World Order Academy
by deadly maelstrom
Summary: The World Order Academy of Heart Gear Wielders is a school that was founded for maintaining the balance of the world through the Wielders of the Heart Gears, weapon forged from the essence of one's heart. This is the story the 512th class. AU
1. The Heart

**Lesson One**

**"The Heart"**

The heart; what is the heart? Is it the force the guides humans to their dreams? It could be a weapon. Maybe it is a figment of the imagination. Is it destiny's sign of existence? Or the power to defy destiny?

These are questions that have plagued the Worlds since the beginning. Countless men tried to find the answer; however, all they found was destruction. Heartless, those who were consumed by darkness; Blinded, those who were consumed by light; Nobodies, the empty shells left behind by the Consumed; Unversed, the culmination of man's negative emotions... the more man sought to understand the heart, the more of these beings were brought into the Worlds.

However, man also discovered a way to combat these beings. The Heart Gears are weapons forged from the essence of one's heart. People with strong hearts can summon these powerful weapons and use them to combat the forces that seek to destroy all. These people are known as Wielders. Due to the unpredictable nature of the heart, these weapons can take many forms - ranging from a great sword to a small ring.

Of course, left alone, Wielders would be lost on their path; baffled by the power they were given. For that reason, the World Order Academy of Heart Wielders was founded. The Academy's locale is between light and darkness, a _twilight realm_ of sorts, maintaining the delicate balance that keeps the world from falling into chaos. In its halls, thousands of great Wielders have been trained to defend the world and those who cannot defend themselves.

This Academy was having a staff meeting before the doors opened and students returned from their winter vacation as a new school year began. Truthfully it was chat session on the incoming students and their thoughts on the new school year.

"You should be busy this year, Eraqus," an elderly man with stern look and a long grey beard said.

The man he spoke to laughed, dark eyes glittering. "There are three new Keyblade Wielders this year. Perhaps they'll come to you this year instead of me, Yen Sid."

"His Majesty, King Mickey, was my last apprentice. As headmaster, my duty lies in administrating the affairs of this school. Not in training its students," Yen Sid replied with smile.

"Forget all that. We got Hunters - _three_!" A middle aged man with blond hair and goggles sat towards the end of the long wooden table. He was the head of the IT department, Cid Highwind. "Whoever down in admissions came up with that needs a pole shoved so far up their ass…"

"Yeesh, Cid, I know you don't like them but, if you don't calm down you'll have a heart attack." Dr. Agrima Jhevari, an Indian woman with a single black braid over her left shoulder, sat across the table from him. "Besides. They made sure to give them the three hardest teachers in this school."

"They are a troublesome family," Yen Sid agreed. "But, they are all talented. Any other interesting students?"

"We've got six locals coming this year," Cid said with an unsure look. "_All_ trouble makers."

Eraqus laughed at Cid's frustration. "You complain like this every year yet, the students seem to get kick out of it. Perhaps you could try getting to know them better."

"I'll get to know 'em better when someone doesn't crash one of the damn Gummi Ships each year."

"Like you didn't in your days here. So who do you think will be winning the tournament this year?" Dr. Jhevari asked. "I'd put my money on Simone or the Hunters."

"You know we shouldn't be playing favorites," Eraqus warned.

"I'm not playing favorites. I'm out to make a little extra cash." The doctor scoffed.

"The point of this tournament is to see which of first years have the most potential," Yen Sid said gravely. "Not for your escapades, Dr. Jhevari. At any rate the orientation begins in two hours. Is any business left to be taken care of?"

"Actually, yes," Eraqus said solemnly. "Recently Maleficent's movements have become more and more aggressive. It seems that she's gathered a group of strong followers. And we still have yet to locate the missing Xehanort and his apprentice Ventus."

"Have there been any leads?"

"None," Cid said. "We've looked under every stone and in every cranny. Nothin'."

"I see." Yen Sid looked out the window of the meeting room and heaved a deep breath. He could only hope that the former instructor and the boy were safe. The same could be said for everyone in the room. The staff member Xehanort had disappeared about six months before with Ventus.

"At any rate, I'm going to go spy on the students," Jhevari said standing up. "See how much trouble they can really cause."

She exited the room with hands in her lab coat pockets. "I suppose should rehearse my speech a few more times," Yen Sid said.

"Yeah, I'll make sure the equipment's ready," Cid said exiting as well.

"I have some things I need to prepare as well." Eraqus left.

Yen Sid stroked his beard as he thought about the situation. He was concerned about everything: Maleficent, Xehanort, and the students. He stared into the colorful, cloudy abyss that surrounded the land mass that made up area the faculty quarters was situated on. The swirling colors had a bit of a calming effect on him but, he could tell they were in for a long school year.

**Heart Gears**

Sora, Riku, and Kairi, a group of students from the world Destiny Islands, looked at the stores in Twilight Town, where one of the entrances to the Academy was located. The ground was laid with golden tinted bricks as well the rest of the town. The path to the main gate of the Academy was only a few paces away.

Sora, with his incredibly spiky brown hair, was more interested in the other students than the stores. The same could be said for Riku, the aqua-eyed silverette. For his whole life he had been looking forward to the day he could get off his island World and that day had come and gone. Kairi, of both their redheaded friend, was the only one in the trio genuinely interested in the accessory shop they had stopped by.

Twilight Town was a relatively small place. In fact almost half of its populace was connected to school in some way ranging from simple tech support to a major faculty member. Students of World Order Academy always arrived at least three days before classes began. This gave them time to learn the lay of the land and mingle with others. They also were assigned their rooms and roommates. Sora was not too happy with his but that was something he would have to deal with later.

Of course there were a few in Twilight Town who didn't like the thought of the Academy students being there. Seifer Almasy was a prime example. Despite the fact that he was enrolled as a first year student himself the outsiders still didn't appeal to him or his posse of Fuujin and Raijin. The three of them were ganging up another student across the road.

Riku nudged Sora and pointed to situation. They wasted no time getting across the street to help the poor victim. "Hey, leave him alone," Riku said, shoving Seifer away harshly.

Seifer shoved back and sneered. "Just teaching this loser whose town he's in and whose school he's going to." He looked back over at blond haired boy with orange eyes. His sleeves were much longer than his arms.

"And is that supposed to be you?" Sora asked.

"Damn straight it is. You're looking at the Twilight Town Disciplinary Committee."

"Yeah, Seifer and us are gonna win the tournament next month and make of you look like punks, y'know," the big bodied Raijin said.

"Easy victory," Fuujin followed up, her only visible eye gleaming.

"And just where do you think you're going?" The blond made a failed attempt to flee as Seifer put his body in the way.

"Leave him _alone_." Riku stepped in front of Seifer, jaw tightened.

"Fine then, you'll get what he had coming!" Seifer pulled back his fist for a punch. Riku quickly prepared to block a punch that never came. Seifer had a confused look on his face and turned around to see Kairi grabbing his arm.

"We don't want to get in trouble before class even starts, do we?" Seifer's face turned bright red as he looked at the red-head.

He tugged his arm out of her grip and turned. "I'll let you off easy today. Fuujin, Raijin, let's go." He turned and stalked away.

"You owe these three big time, y'know?" Raijin said to the blond who only rolled his eyes.

"Lucky," Fuujin added as she followed Seifer to wherever he was headed.

"Are you okay?" Kairi asked with voice of concern.

"Uh, yeah, thanks," the boy said. "I'm Duffie Barret if you were wondering."

"I'm Kairi Umihana," she replied smiling. "This Sora and Riku." She signaled them to reply.

"Hey," Riku said passively.

"Nice to meet ya," Sora grinned with his teeth showing. "Who were those guys anyway?"

"Beats me. Apparently they're locals who think they own the place," Duffie said. "I think you're better off just avoiding them."

"Somehow, I doubt it'll be that simple," Riku pointed out. "Say, where are you from?"

"Nautilus, Cocoon." Duffie replied. "It's called the 'City of Dreams' because of how much of the entertainment business sets up shop there. But, when you live there all your life and see how it works from the inside, it's not that big a deal."

"Wow, I've heard that it was amazing place, but to have lived there all your life you must have never been bored," Kairi said enthusiastically. "We're from Destiny Islands. It's pretty small compared to Cocoon but the weather's nice almost all year round."

"Yeah, minus the occasional storm and stuff you've got the beach every day," Sora added. Riku had grown disinterested in the conversation. The group wandered through the plaza talking about the school. Duffie had no plans on entering the first year tournament but Sora and the other two did. "You'd better cheer for us a month from now."

"Yeah, we're gonna clean up," Riku said high fiving Sora and Kairi.

"Better you than Seifer," Duffie said. "Anyway, I've got somewhere to be. See ya and thanks again."

"Alright, bye." Sora waved as Duffie left to where ever. "Well then, anything else you guys wanna do? We've got over an hour before orientation starts."

"Actually I wanna see if I can find my roommate," Kairi said. "She said she'd be hanging out with a friend right about now but, I haven't her seen since this morning. I wonder where she is."

"We'll the town isn't that big." Riku looked around the mass of people. "What does she look like?"

"Really long black hair, really dark blue eyes, dresses in all black."

"That shouldn't too hard to find," Sora said optimistically.

**Heart Gears**

Sora was proven wrong. About an hour had passed since they begun looking and Kairi's roommate was nowhere to be found. Kairi realized that she probably should have gotten the girl's phone number and planned to do so the next time they saw each other.

What she did not realize was that her roommate had found her and her friends. She sat on the roof of one of the many brick buildings that made up Twilight Town. Next to her stood a black boy with dreadlocks and pair of black cordless head phones over his ears. His dark green seemed to glow even in the sunlight. He wore jeans and red button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up. "So that's your roommate?" he asked looking down at trio. "She doesn't look like much."

"That's true, Jake, but she's Keyblade Wielder. Her friends are as well." The girl, named Shizuko Kuroha, had a quiet, toneless voice. It matched her blank facial expression perfectly.

"Well, it's hard to tell, considering how many people are in such a close space." Jake removed the phones and put them around his neck. "I'll admit, though, they have some of the loudest songs of us first years. They'll be fun to screw with, huh?"

"Yes, but, are they really all people say they simply because they're Keyblade Wielders?" Shizuko balled up her right hand, gazing at the golden ring adorning it. "Accessory Wielders like me are often underestimated and they will probably be overestimated."

"Don't worry. As soon as soon we find our third member, it's all a matter of time. Evetually we'll face them and find out if they're all the hype they're." Jake's serious look and tone dropped as considered the time. He put his head phones back on and said, "But, for now we have an orientation to attend and a teacher to meet. Let's go."

He and Shizuko jumped across the roofs of Twilight Town heading towards their destination, the Academy.

**Heart Gears**

When Sora, Riku, and Kairi walked into the auditorium they found what they had expected: a bunch of excited teenagers talking about anything. The first thing Kairi looked for was her roommate. She found her and Jake leaning against a wall looking at the crowd of students. "Hey, Shizuko," Kairi said.

"Kairi, Sora, Riku." Shizuko greeted passively. All three of them could feel the coldness in the greeting.

"I was gonna introduce you but it looks like you know who they are."

"That's because we were spyin' on you about ten minutes ago." Jake's words earned him an elbow to the gut. "I mean we were spyin' on everyone, we just happened to find you guys ten minutes..." Shizuko looked at him. "I'll stop talking."

"And you are?" Riku asked.

"Jacob Marshall, but call me Jake." He pulled off his phones and looked at Riku. "I look forward to fighting you in a month but for now let's just try to get along."

"Yeah…" Riku shook the extended hand and felt something on contact. He was not sure what it was but, it felt he had been read like a book. When the hand was released, Riku couldn't help but to examine it. "So, what class are you guys in?"

"Sir Auron, same as you," he responded. "He was a real super Wielder with my mom back in the day. Now he's here teaching people like us. We got lucky if ya ask me."

"I guess," Riku replied. "We'd better find some seats. The orientation's about to start."

"You guys can sit with us," Kairi invited. "We're going to the same place anyway."

They quickly enough found some seats among the crowd of overexcited teens. The shushes from the faculty took some time to take effect. The students were more interested in the fact that they were attending the Academy than the person running it. Finally the voices got quieter. Yen Sid, in his blue robes and star-and-moon adorned hat, stepped up to the microphone. Behind him stood many department heads.

"Good afternoon, students." Most of them quickly realized his voice matched his stern face quite well. "It is my duty, privilege, and most of all pleasure to welcome you the 512th class to the World Order Academy of Heart Gear Wielders. The fact that you are here says something about each of you. Each of are extraordinarily gifted youths able to wield a Heart Gear. It is my own as well the faculty and staff here at the Academy's duty to teach you how to defend both the Worlds and peace that countless others have protected before you. Each of you has something unique and amazing to bring to the table and, it is here that we will cultivate it."

"Penis!" The offending student was quickly struck with a sudden lightning bolt.

_What an idiot…_ Riku thought shaking his head. He actually chuckled a little bit.

"However, with peace comes limitation. Remember, when you are in the field you not only represent yourself but, also this Academy as well as your fellow students. As such you will conduct yourselves accordingly. I should not have to go into detail about what I mean by 'accordingly.' Feel free to go into town whenever you are not required to be elsewhere. On the days of Sunday through Thursday the curfew is ten P.M. and on Fridays and Saturdays midnight. Breaking curfew without justifiable cause will result in the suspension of that privilege."

A hand was raised.

"Losing track of time is not justifiable cause."

The hand went down and laughter filled the auditorium. It quickly died down allowing Yen Sid to continue. His speech went one for good thirty giving Riku a decent nap. Not many people actually listened to what was said.

"Now it is time for you to meet your instructors for this year. Please exit an orderly fashion and proceed to your classrooms." While he requested "orderly fashion" what he received was a mad rush to the doors.

**Heart Gears**

Sir Auron's classroom was in a lecture hall style. The room had five levels up that had ten desks each. Two exits were on either side at the ground floor or top level. The wooden teacher desk was in front of a large touch screen board with "Sir Auron" written it. There was at least eight meters of space on all sides but the back of the desk.

They found Duffie and discovered he was in their class as well. Much to Sora's disappointment, his roommate was in the class as well. Felix Hunter shared Sora's trait of having brown spiky hair but his was long and fell halfway down his back. His eyes were a somewhat dark shade of pink and his muscles well built. On wrists were arm black braces that had spikes on them and went a third the way up his forearms. But none of that caught as much attention as the crow that rested on his head.

"What's up, dumbass? Caw!" the bird said looking at Sora. It and Felix were crouching on a desk one level above them.

"You need to teach that bird some manners," Kairi said.

"Yeah, I don't see that happenin' anytime soon, Ginger." Felix said with a smug grin on his face. "But back to the question. What's up, dumbass? Ya look like you're not happy to see us."

"That's 'cause he isn't happy to see you, dumbass." An orange haired girl with a short haircut spoke in a sharp Latin accent. Her stocky build was effusive by her short stature. She was leaning back in the chair next to Felix with booted feet resting on the desk. A shotgun rested in her lap. "Me llamo Isabel Sanchez, putas colas."

"I can see why you don't like the guy." Riku commented facing Felix and his bird. His eyes traced over to Isabel's shotgun when he said "I'm going to assume you're entering the tournament as well."

"And you're damn right about that." Felix brandished a smile. "Seems like a fun time don't ya think. Me Izzy'll clean nice and easy."

"Wait, don't you need three people to enter?" Sora asked as he raised an eyebrow.

Felix realized his goof up. "Shut up! I'm workin' on it. We got a month."

"Alright brats, settle down!" Sir Auron walked in wearing a dark red haori with his left arm tucked in. His grey and black haired was tied back by a golden ribbon. Sunglasses covered his eyes and a scar ran down the right side of his face closing the eye. A large gray collar hid his mouth and chin and a long, thick one bladed sword was grasped in his right hand over his shoulder.

"I am Sir Auron. From this point until the end of this school year I will be your teacher. Feel free to call me 'Sir,' 'Sir Auron,' or 'Auron' but that's it. Don't call me 'Sir Aun,' 'Rock Aun,' or 'the Aun Meister.' Is that clear?" Felix decided to sit down when the question was asked. Anyone could tell Auron was no push over. "There are four very simple rules to follow in my classroom."

"Penis!"

The boys and a few girls including Isabel chuckled.

Auron responded by chucking his sword at the boy, planting it in the wall mere inches away from his head.

"Scratch that, five rules." The sword disappeared and reappeared in the teacher's hand. Everyone stared in awe and fear at the Auron's ability.

"Rule one: If I see, hear, or see even a vestige of a penis or any related organs you will be writing, 'Genitals are not and never will be remotely funny' five thousand times. Rule two: Shut up when I am talking. Rule three: Follow the instructions that I or any faculty member gives you. And the fourth most important rule is: Ask stupid questions."

Everyone looked at Auron in confusion. The man who had just a moment ago threatened someone's life over a word was telling them to ask stupid questions? He smiled. "Let me explain. By stupid questions I don't mean 'What time is it?' or 'Can I go to the bathroom?' I mean questions that should have an obvious answer; questions about things everyone else understands but, you don't. It's those questions that will save your life out in the field. Which leads us to rule five: never make fun of a person asking stupid questions."

The classroom looked at the man with attentive eyes. Riku in particular found himself locking eyes with him. Auron stared at the group before saying. "Hoshi, Kuroha, Hunter - down here, now!" The three and their companions went wide eyed as their names were called. "You don't want to break the rules before class even begins, do you?"

Sora Hoshi, Shizuko Kuroha, and Felix Hunter walked down the stairs and faced Auron. A look of hesitation was in Sora's face. Felix had slight grin on his face and, Shizuko's still remained blank. Light murmurs could be heard among the other students as they watched. "I want you three to use your Heart Gears and to come at me with everything you've got," Auron said blatantly. They stood there taken back by his words. "Well, you heard me, didn't you?"

Felix stepped up and popped his knuckles. "Alright, try not to get hurt!"

He charged with his fists up. He planted his foot in the ground and let his momentum go through his fist. Auron nimbly dodged the blow and began his assessment. _Felix Hunter: reckless, impulsive, will think about his goals but won't think about how to achieve them. Seems to have a highly compact muscle mass like his siblings. Dangerous._

Sora summoned his Heart Gear, the Keyblade. It was shaped like a classic silver key with a golden handle. A mouse charm hung as a keychain. He jumped up and brought his weapon down from the air before it collided with Auron's. _Sora Hoshi: brave almost to the point of being reckless. Strong will, ready to fight for what he believes in and the ones he cares about. The archetypical hero. Needs supervision._ Auron shirked off the attack sending Sora into the ground and avoided a kick from Felix. Felix's leg flew into and destroyed Auron's desk.

Shizuko finally joined, throwing quick jabs. She then threw a six o'clock kick aimed at the teachers chin. Auron jumped back causing Felix to crash into Shizuko while going for a sleeper hold. _Shizuko Kuroha: calm, calculating, murderous. Looks at everything from an objective stance. Waits for her opponent to leave an opening. She has a thorough lack of concern for people in general. Lives up to her family's reputation._

The three continued to attack only find themselves crashing into one another. "They don't stand a chance," Riku said, and looked at the somewhat comical sparring session.

"Of course they don't," Isabel said having hopped down into Sora's seat. "That bastard wouldn't be a teacher here if he could be beaten by us."

"She's right," Jake added. "Not to mention the all important fact that they're attacking as individuals rather than as a team." At that moment Felix found himself on the receiving end of one of Shizuko's kicks. He was launched into the air and landed on top of Sora who had been making a futile attempt to match Auron's sword.

"Damn…" Felix said as he stood up off of Sora rubbing his jaw. "That was for earlier wasn't it? Why is there iron in those boots?"

"I believe we've seen enough," Auron addressed the laughing students. "I don't see what's so funny. Even with their utter _lack_ of coordination, they could still defeat almost everyone in this classroom at once. That's why I picked them out." The laughter stopped for the most part. "The first year at this Academy will be spent finding your strong suits and building a strong foundation on them. Your Heart Gear is a projection of your heart - meaning that if you can master it your power will much easier to harness."

Auron sat on the chair that was next to the splintered remains of his desk. "Most teachers are rambling on about how much fun the year's going to be. It will be fun but, that fun can only be obtained through hard work. Many of you will go on to be politicians, businessmen, and I'm sure there are some that will return home and join the World's military. However, there are also a few of you who will join the World Order." He stood back and looked at his students.

"You're dismissed but, remember one thing. This is it. This is your story. It all begins here."

**Heart Gears**

A boy with steel blue hair sat in silence at a table on the fourth level of the library. His hair fell in front of the right side of his face hiding it from view. A black book was in front of him opened with eyes locked in place. Then the elevator opened. He turned to see who it was only to see her again. She was a classmate of his who caught people's attention with her brown skin and long white hair. Of course, another factor was her large bust size but, Ienzo, as the boy was called, was a bit more mature about it than the other males in the class of Basch fon Ronsenberg. Though he had to admit it was an impressive sight.

Simone Boneau, the girl, had caught Ienzo's eye solely for than fact that she had displayed an incredibly high intellect unlike the other boys who had caught sight of her chest.

"Hey," Simone said with a smile revealing her teeth. "You're Ienzo, right?"

"Simone…" he said without looking up. "A full chain scythe Wielder that has become the girl to get in our class. What brings you here?"

"Well, you know, where else to get a little peace and quiet but the library? The selection here is amazing. I'm sure you've already realized it but, the collection here is far beyond most in the universe. They have works here that were supposedly lost centuries ago. Homer and Paul. Hell, they even have some of Oscar Wilde's manuscripts. Did you know that this library is even bigger than the one they have at the World Order HQ? That's pretty ironic considering the Head Quarters makes the campus look small."

It was new but pointless knowledge as far as Ienzo was concerned.

"As matter of fact the Gummi hanger in the HQ makes this place small but, there's the fact that it houses war class Gummi ships. Speaking of which, our current head of IT, Cid Highwind, used to work there as an engineer. They say he could make some the best ships in the history of the World Order." Truthfully Ienzo had tuned her out some time ago. He found his book to be much more interesting than the pretty girl standing in front of him rambling. "Hey, are you even listening?"

"To be honest, no," he said flatly. "Your rambling is actually pretty annoying. May I please ask you to be quiet or focus on one topic?"

"With that attitude, you'll never make any friends. Let alone get a girlfriend," Simone retorted.

Ienzo smiled. "I don't have time for things like that. As a student of this Academy, I doubt you do either. I mean, you are single. And rumor it has you've lived at the Academy all your life"

"Those have nothing to do with each other," Simone said taking a seat at the table. "The reason I don't have a boyfriend is because I'm not looking for one right now. Most boys our age are immature perverts."

"In other words, you're afraid they'll only want you for your chest." Ienzo dropped his book when he felt a sharp in his shin. "I'm just saying that's what every other guy in the class looked at."

"Don't remind me." She turned away.

"So basically you're intelligent, self-conscious girl who uses scythes, how nice."

"You wanna say that again?" She threatened with fire escaping with her breath.

"How in the world did you pass the entrance exams with such a short temper?"

"Like you're one to talk. The only time I've seen you outside the library was for orientation. How the hell can you practice when you never get outside?"

"Because unlike the rest of you all I need is a sharpened mind to fight."

"Is that so?" Simone said smiling. "Care to explain?"

"If must know…" Ienzo said in an annoyed tone. "My magic is illusion based. I don't need to attack my opponents directly since they're usually lost in whatever fantasy I decide to send them to. Is that a good enough answer?"

"Okay then, you're gonna be on my team for the tournament next month."

"The tournament…? Why should I help you?"

"Because I'm sure otherwise you'll be cooped up in here for the next four years." She pointed that out in a mocking tone.

Ienzo thought about it for moment and made a decision. "Fine then but, our alliance ends with the tournament. After that it'll be like we never knew each other. Also, I get a say in the third member. If I'm doing this might as well play to win. Is that clear?"

"Fair enough. I've already got someone you're gonna like."

**Heart Gears**

"Alright, loser, no one's gonna bail you out this time." Seifer had his Heart Gear the Hyperion in his hand and pointed at Duffie. It was a type of weapon known as the gunblade. There was a long blade sharpened on both ends. One side curved out came back in straight then hooked before restoring its original width. The handle was a black pistol connected to the blade.

Raijin and Fuujin were standing behind him making sure a teacher didn't come along and spoil their fun. "I'm not gonna hurt ya too bad, just enough to get the message across to you and everyone else in this school."

"Really now, maybe I'll deliver it while you're in the infirmary."

Seifer turned around and saw Sora, Riku and Jake standing on the sidewalk leading to the courtyard they were in. Sora and Riku had summoned their HG's before their arrival. In Riku's hand was a Keyblade. The blade was a long bat wing with an angle wing for the teeth. He held high with one hand with the point facing forward.

"You two again and some idiot who showed up without his HG. I'll take care of you, after I kick his ass."

"Just try it," Jake said smiling.

"Why don't you just make me!" Seifer turned and brought the Hyperion down from his right only to have Duffie's right arm stop it. "What the hell!" Seifer stepped back as he looked at Duffie who had a completely different look on his face than weak little boy he had pinned down a second ago. Then, he saw something in the corner of his eye. He looked at the lamp post and saw Duffie leaning against it the base of it. "Then who's this!"

"What an annoying person you are. Shouldn't it be obvious?" The apparently fake Duffie said. His body began to melt into metallic liquid. "I changed places with the real Duffie while you had your attention on those three." His voice was distorted as his body came apart in a formless mass of silver. When it solidified Shizuko was standing in his place. She held up her right hand and showed her ring. "My Heart Gear is the Doppelganger's Ring. As long it doesn't exceed my original mass, I can take on any form whatsoever."

"So now you're ganging up on me." Seifer's arrogance returned. "Whatever, guess the entire school's gonna know the three of us."

"Please, don't stick us in the same crowd as you." Riku lowered Way to Dawn. "We actually have some concern for the rules. Right, Kairi?"

Kairi came up behind him with a man's wrist in her grasp. He had brown hair that stuck up at the top. On his right hand was a simple black wrist band. On the other was a piece of armor that went from his wrist to his shoulder. "Right," Kairi said huffing and puffing.

"The rules say we're allowed to have formal duels as long as there's a faculty member supervising." Riku explained. "I'm pretty sure Terra fits the bill."

"I do," Terra said walking in between the two groups and looked at the lamp post. "Aren't you a lucky one?" He watched as Shizuko crossed the courtyard while Duffie chuckled to himself. "Now then, who will be fighting?"

"Me," Riku said stepping forward.

"I'll handle this guy you two just sit back and wait." Seifer walked forward leaving Fuujin and Raijin behind.

"Alright then, are you both ready?" Terra looked at both of them as they nodded. "Go!" He stepped back as their swords clashed. They pushed off each other and attacked again. This time Seifer pulled the trigger on the handle. A charge of energy surged through his weapon transferring over to Riku. The silver haired boy backed off and let the gunblade fall to the ground damaging the cobblestone path. A deep depression was where the weapon had landed.

Riku saw the damage and moved back to avoid an upward slash. He thrust his Keyblade forward forcing Seifer to sidestep. He then kicked Seifer and moved back, choosing to create some distance. Riku gathered some magic into his hands, converted it into a fireball, and threw it. Seifer counterattacked with some of his own fire cancelling out Riku's. Seifer immediately thrust his gunblade at his opponent's shoulder and pulled the trigger. Riku avoided being stabbed but a heavy cut was inflicted on his left shoulder. Sora and Kairi showed a look of concern as blood began to soak his shirt.

Riku raised his sword again. Seifer sneered and charged at him ready to end the fight with a single blow. Riku ducked and put his free hand against Seifer's chest. "Bye." Riku unleashed a fireball at pointblank range sending Seifer flying. His grip on the Hyperion released when he hit the ground grunting in pain. He clutched his chest feeling the burns as Riku stood over him with the Keyblade in hand smiling with victory.

"I'd say Riku wins," Terra said smiling. "But you'll both need to go to the infirmary." That was fairly obvious considering Riku's deep cut and Seifer's burn.

"We're not about take that, y,know!" Raijun shouted. A wooden pole appeared in his hands. It had sections, each descending in size from the outsides to the center piece.

"Simple." Fujin summoned her single, blue chakram with bladed edges.

Both of them lunged at Duffie making they finished the job Seifer had began. Duffie's eyes were rolled at the attack and fist was balled. Before he took his own action a bolt of lightning struck the ground in between them. Terra shook his head at the spectacle.

"Well, well aren't we all rough and tough." Said a male as vision returned to those in the courtyard. Standing on the charred pavement stood a tall seventeen year old student. His long brown hair was kept from blocking his pink eyes with a blue bandanna. On his shoulder was a black koala.

Fujin and Raijin stopped dead in their tracks looking the student whose body sparked with electricity. "So come on. Hit me." He taunted with a smile. Neither of them moved. Seifer ducked his head. Everyone else looked in wonder as what was going on except who simply rolled his eyes. "Don't be a puss. I smell a puss. Meow! Meow! Meow! Meow! Meow!" He held out his hand causing both to duck down. "Shouldn't've been a puss."

A bolt a lightning shot from his and arced over their heads. Thunder followed as the bolt hit something in the town. The flames from the explosion that was created were instantly visible as well as loud, angry, "Damn it, Weston!"

"Oops, missed." Weston said mockingly. "Later." He vanished in a flash. Raijin and Fujin quickly collected Seifer and ran off.

"Who the hell was that?" Jake asked looking at the blaze.

"Weston." Terra said with annoyance his voice. "Take my advice: avoid him at all costs. His strength is real but he's insane. Hey, Riku we'd better let Dr. Jhevari take a look at that shoulder."

"Uh, right." Riku said gazing out the flames himself.

Riku walked away with Terra. Kairi followed them.

"Damn it, I'm hungry," Jake complained. "We were supposed to be getting something to eat right now but, no, you had to save blond kid." Jake looked down and raised an eyebrow. "Speaking of which, how the hell did you get into this Academy and be so weak?"

"Well excuse me for…huh." Duffie found himself lifted in the air and made eye level with Jake.

"That means you've gotta have some secret skill you ain't shown yet." Jake's devious smile scared Duffie. "Shizuko, we found our third member." Jake tucked Duffie under with his arm screaming to be released. Three left down the path they had arrived on to get some food.

"I'm all alone," Sora said with a down trodden expression as he looked at the setting sun.


	2. Twentyone

**Lesson Two**

"**Twenty-One"**

Kairi looked in the mirror on the vanity that sat near the door to her and Shizuko's dorm room. The room was small but pleasant with the light of dawn peaking through its single window. There were two twin sized beds that had two oak dressers in between them. Drawers underneath the beds provided some extra space. On the opposite side of the door from where the vanity sat was the entrance to their bathroom complete with a sink and shower. Dark blue carpet was on floor. Against the wall behind Kairi and opposite to the beds was wooden closet with the girls' cloths in it. It had two more drawers in the bottom.

Kairi was quite happy with the school uniform. Roughly translated it said any white jacket with the blue heart insignia on the left breast and a dark blue bottom. Do to the vagueness of this rule many different outfits could be produced so long as it followed the color scheme. Kairi went with a white vest, a blue under jacket with shoulder length sleeves and a hood, and dark blue skirt.

She looked quite good to herself. In the mirror she could see Shizuko sitting on her bed and strapping up her knee high black boots. She had gone with a long sleeved button up jacket with large blue cuffs and a skirt. It was the first time Kairi had seen her without all black. "The uniforms are pretty cute, huh?" Kairi said brushing her red hair

"It's more of dress code really." Shizuko commented as she stood up. She gazed out the window as the sun crept up over the town. "But more importantly than that…" Shizuko walked up behind Kairi and pressed up against her back. She let her left arm fall over Kairi's torso and rested her head on Kairi's right shoulder. Her index finger melted and turned into a sharpened steel talon an action which made Kairi nervous. "…it seems that the fabric is incredibly strong." She dragged claw across Kairi's chest up to her own lips. Kairi stiffened as cold steel brushed against chest. "It was probably created to keep people from getting hurt too badly." She removed herself and reverted her finger. "Still it won't protect you from things like impact strikes and electrical attacks. Just keep that in mind."

Shizuko opened the door which essentially ended up in Kairi's face. Kairi followed her and closed the door with their names on it, room two-thirteen. The first thing they saw were girls chatting about the first day and their teachers. The first thing they heard that made everyone stop in their tracks was the sound of gunshots. A girl with brown hair and green eyes ran out of the room as fast as her legs could carry her ran to first thing she could get behind which happens to be Shizuko. Out of the room stepped Isabel who had a smoking Mach XVI Desert Eagle pistol hanging loosely in her right hand. Her clothes were comprised of an unzipped white jacket with undone cuffs, a blue shirt with guns holsters strapped across and blue shorts. "What part of 'shut the hell up before I blow your damn head off' was so hard to understand?" She asked looking at the girl.

"What's so wrong asking you to pick up your clothes?" The brunette said as Shizuko literally picked her up by the back off her sleeveless jacket and put her in front.

"They're my clothes." Isabel spun the gun around on her finger. "I'll do whatever I damn well please, puta."

"Me nombre es Olette. Seeing as you can't seem to understand English."

Isabel pointed the gun at Olette with a smile on her face. "You must really want to die, huh." She holstered it heaving a sigh. "Just be glad I'm not interested in getting expelled." She closed the door ending the silence within the hall.

The other girls in hall whispered about the event for fear of being Isabel's next target. "Care to explain why you tried hiding behind me?" Shizuko asked Olette coldly. She wasn't actually afraid of being shot thanks to powers of her HG but, it still wasn't a pleasant thought. "It was complete waste of energy. I was there when that girl and Felix took the entrance exam. That girl, hers was the only examiner to die." Olette's face went completely pale with horror. "It was a perfect shot to the head; the soldier probably didn't even feel any pain, a rather nice way to be killed really."

"Are you serious?" Olette asked trembling. Everyone who was in ear shot was taken back.

"How is that even possible?" Kairi questioned. "Aren't World Order soldiers really well trained? Even if they aren't Wielders there's no way that should have happen."

"Yeah, I killed him. What about it?" Isabel walked out of her and Olette's room wearing a pair of brown boots. She skulked down the hallway not paying any mind to her classmates' fear of the shotgun on her back. "That's what happens when they send puppy to fight a shark: bloody floating corpse. I'm goin' to the cafeteria, case anyone wants to avoid me. Hasta luego, putas colas." She mocked laughing down the stairs.

"It's as you said." Shizuko answered speaking in an unfazed monotone. "World Orders soldiers are trained either here at this Academy or at the HQ in the Lanes in Between. The average non-Wielder soldier is about as strong as a first year at about the same level as most of them." The girls in the hall all had their attention on Shizuko whispering something or another. "Naturally, as with any school, there will students who stand higher than others. Be it because they train harder or they're just gifted, they far surpass the skills of most of the student body. Examples I've personally encountered thus far are you and your friends, Duffie, Felix and of course Isabel, she's natural born sniper. But it's nothing you should dwell too deeply on. She's harmless as long as you don't make her angry. Anyway…" Shizuko walked over to the staircase and said. "I'm hungry. I'll eat without you if you're just going to stand around all morning."

With their cheerful first day of class all but ruined, many of the girls contemplated whether or not they should go to the cafeteria. It was natural reaction seeing as they just found out one of their classmates was a killer with no remorse. Olette looked around and saw recognizable pity being cast on her. "How is she not afraid?" The girl asked looking at Kairi.

"I'm really not sure." Kairi replied hesitantly. "Maybe we should talk to Aqua about it. She'll know what to do. I'm Kairi by the way. Olette, right?"

"Yeah and that is a good idea." They walked down the stairs and found themselves in the lounge of their dormitory. It was spacious and cozy room. Two large, blue couches and a chair surrounded a glass top coffee table on all three sides. A flat screen television was mounted onto the wall and showed the local weather: sunny.

Across the room among a few tables was not so sunny. The dorm adviser, the blue haired Aqua, was fulfilling her role to best of her abilities. A brown haired girl and another with purple curly hair stood before her. The brunette wore a sleeveless white jacket showing her black tattoo and was undone below her rib cage revealing her pierced naval and blue pants while the purple haired girl had a much more regal appearance. Her jacket was long sleeved with detailed cufflinks and a tie tucked into her perfectly ironed jacket. Her blue skirt matched jacket in neatness.

"I can't stand living with this _freak_ anymore!" The purple complained not paying attention to anyone else. "It's bad enough my father sent me to this school but, now I have to live with this dog-whispering weirdo and her mutt."

"Apollo is no mutt." The brunette said bending down to pet the black furred wolf that was standing next to her. "He's a wolf. And trust me; that papillon is no prize either. I can barely get any sleep with his yapping."

Said black and white toy dog was tucked in the arms of its owner. "[I'll have you know I'm a pure breed.]" The dog barked scuttling around his owners arms. "[That nerve to suggest otherwise is the sign of an utter fool.]"

"Sure, if that's what they told ya at the kennel." The girl moved her head to reveal a pair of pink eyes. Kairi couldn't help but to notice they were the same shade as Felix's.

"Nanami, Maria…" Aqua began looking at the two girls. "As much as I've listened to your arguing, we still haven't established what the issue is. Now calmly tell me the problem is. Maria you go first."

"She and her dog are stuck up and annoying pricks." The brunette named Maria said plainly.

"Now, Nanami."

"Oh what can I say about Miss Maria Hunter. In the short four days that I've had displeasure of knowing her, she has harassed my cute little Pochi, used my shampoo, flaunted her tattoo, done stretches naked, let her _mutt_ nearly eat Pochi…"

"[Please, that yipping thing wouldn't even make a decent snack.]" Apollo snarled.

"…ate like she's never seen food before…"

Nanami's list of complaints went on for a decent three minutes citing things in Maria's undesirable habits. Aqua had ceased listening at some point in the middle quickly realizing what the main issue between the two was. "Well the issue we have here is very simple. The two of you have given each other a culture shock." Both girls looked at each other then back at Aqua. "Nanami, you come from the well to do Arakaki family surrounded by the lap of luxury and daily spa treatments. Maria, you come from slum World of Terminal Zero and have probably never even been to a spa." Both of them nodded. "Frankly, I think the two of you could learn a lot from each other."

"What do I have to learn from her?" Nanami said. "Like I have anything to learn from an uncultured street rat like her."

Nanami quickly found herself pulled by her tie. "You really like running your mouth, don't you? A pampered rich kid like you wouldn't understand culture if it bit you in the ass." Maria released her grip and walked away with Apollo closely following.

"The nerve of her…" Nanami said before walking away to the stairs.

Kairi and Olette who had been watching couldn't help but to wonder how their problem would be dealt with. Aqua herself was looking pretty disappointed with the way things turned out. She was new to the job of dorm adviser and didn't expect things to go perfectly but, as far as she was concerned that could have only gone worse if the two of them started fighting.

Aqua perked herself up and looked at the girls. "And what can I help you with."

"Um, it's my roommate, Isabel Sanchez." Aqua quickly imagined a million and one bad scenarios involving Isabel. While to the public at large it was an unfortunate accident, faculty members as well as higher ups in the World Order knew how dangerous Isabel could. Why they were letting attend the Academy was beyond most people's comprehension.

"And what seems to be the problem?" Aqua asked already knowing the answer.

"She might be a psychopath." Olette replied trying to sound polite.

At that point Aqua recalled the conversation she had had with Yen Sid. He told her to treat Isabel like anyone else. However, there was a look in her eyes and lacing in her words that made that nearly impossible. The air around her seemed fearful and the other students were clearly afraid of her. If anything, Aqua realized that the hostility between her and everyone else would be what created problems.

"Isn't that a bit harsh?" Aqua said trying to seem calm.

"She shot at her." Kairi explained blatantly.

_Oh boy…_ Aqua thought to herself as she realized that the ball had already started rolling. "Isabel Sanchez, to be honest, I'm really not sure what I can do." She said disappointedly. "That girl, we don't have much on her prior to the entrance exam. I've tried talking to her but she completely ignores everything I say."

She turned her head and realized her best plan was standing right in front of her, whether she liked it or not. "Olette, I think your best option is to befriend her. Whether you like it or not Isabel's your roommate. Having that tension fester in the room will only make things worse. If those two you just saw completely hate each other, both of their lives will be miserable. I understand Isabel can be hard to work with, but I'm sure the two of you can work out your differences."

Olette stood, not sure how to respond. She turned and walked away asking herself, _How do I make friends with a homicidal girl who tried to kill me_?

Kairi followed deciding that standing around wouldn't help. Aqua took a sip of her coffee and looked up at the ceiling. "This job's going to be a lot harder than I thought."

**Heart Gear**

In the boy's dorm, things weren't going too smoothly either. Sora and Riku sat on one side on the couch in their lounge while Jake and Duffie sat on the other. The area in between had been thoroughly destroyed causing the couch to sink inward. Unconscious in debris of a broken coffee table laid a boy with blond hair, a white sleeveless jacket, and baggy blue shirts with a camouflage design. "KO, caw!" Felix's crow, which was apparently named Huginn, sat on the boy's knee.

"We were trying to sit here you know." Riku said. He too had wore a sleeveless jacket but solid dark pants.

Felix, whose jacket was undone revealing his chest and torso, replied with, "You're just mad 'cause I have a six-pack." He boasted striking his own abs.

"That has nothing to with it." Sora said. He was wearing a short sleeved jacket with a blue shirt and shorts. "You destroyed school property."

"I did that yesterday." Felix said remembering how he blew Auron's desk to pieces.

"More importantly, isn't it against the rules to fight without a faculty member present?" Jake leaned his head back against the back of the couch making Felix appear upside down. His jacket was open with the sleeves rolled up revealing a blue shirt underneath.

"There was one." Felix pointed to Terra who was eating a bowl of cereal. Next to him stood a husky boy who could only shake his head at his friend's swift defeat.

"Ugh, Pence, what happened?" The blond boy said as he pushed himself up. This prompted Huginn to fly to Felix's shoulder.

"Can't say, Hayner." Pence walked over and helped Hayner up. "I blinked."

"Whose side are you on?"

"I'm just being honest."

Hayner held his head and tried to get his bearings for a solid stand. Getting head butted through a couch and coffee table can shake a few things up. "Hey! Where are you going?"

"Gettin' food. I'm hungry. Can't go to class on an empty stomach." Felix walked away not bothering to even be declared the winner.

"That guy's so full of himself." Duffie said. His clothes were long and baggy with an oversized zipper on his jacket.

"I don't think so." Jake stood up and brushed off his pants. "He may be a bit reckless but he knows he can lose. I could hear his 'song' while Riku here was fighting Seifer. He and Isabel were probably watching to collect information on us."

"Talk about underhanded." Sora commented.

"Once again I have to disagree." Jake said putting his headphones over his ears. "This is completely opinion but I don't see what's wrong with keeping an eye on the competition as long as you don't sabotage them."

"Yeah, well I have opinion too."Riku stood up looking at the door Felix exited through. "That guy needs to learn some damn respect."

**Hearts Gear**

"Weston, why are you here?" Auron sat at his new desk with a plate of breakfast in front of him. His sword was leaning against the wall behind while the student in question stood next it. The white long coat he wore was undone revealing his well built torso. His koala was sleeping on his shoulder.

"What's wrong with wantin' to see my favorite teacher?" Weston said smiling slyly.

"Cut the crap." Auron said before he took a bite from a bacon strip. "If it's about Felix, you may as well just leave. He'll get treated like anyone else, so long as he doesn't cause trouble"

Weston's smile grew with those words. "Please, he can take care of himself. Throw him into a black hole for all I care. He'd survive somehow. I'm here for a little investigation I'm conducting." He reached into his pocket and pulled out six standard dice. Weston threw them on the table next to Sir Auron's plate. They landed in a perfect tower with the sixes facing up. "A new addition was added to the entrance exam."

"Gauging dice."Auron finished his eggs after looking at them for a moment. "Each has a different level of power and control. When the six side is on top that means the magical power gauge has maxed out. The more control a person has over their magical power the more dice will stack in a tower."

"Yep," Weston scooped up the dice and stuffed them in his pocket.

"And how is further examination worth an investigation on your part." Auron questioned.

"See, normally even the students would have been aware of change like this before the years ends. However, none of the teachers I've asked have even heard about."

"Isn't this something you should be asking the administration?" Auron was curios now.

"I did." Weston frowned and looked up at the ceiling. "I had a few unscheduled appointments with the higher ups. All of them even _Yen Sid_ gave me bullshit answers."

"I'm assuming you're not on your own here."

"Tried askin' Cloud for help but, you know how that guy is. And Aerith, she's still pretty pissed at me."

"I can imagine. Don't do anything too rash. I can't bail you out if the wrong person catches on." Auron was stern in words making them clear to Weston.

The student chuckled. "Like you need to worry about me." An instant his body vanished into a bolt of lightning that jumped into an electrical socket.

"It's because I don't need to worry that I say that."

Within five minutes of their conversation students began to enter the class. They did not like being awake at eight o'clock in morning but, there they were. It didn't help that Felix essentially smashed his way into the room, made a hole in the wall, and left a pile of rubble on the floor.

"Now that's settled…" Auron said looking dead at Felix. "It's time start our lesson. It's a pretty simple topic that anyone can understand if they pay attention. Magical energy. The source of our power and our Heart Gear. Manna, Mist, life energy, whatever you call it's all the same thing. All living things possess some magic in them. It's the nature of this universe."

**Heart Gear**

It was the first day and the students were already beginning to feel the drag of school. Sure there was no homework, but after a three hour lecture on magical energy, the only thing they could focus on was lunch. "Food…" Felix whined.

Jake looked at him with a raised eyebrow and said, "You ate ten plates in the cafeteria for breakfast and you're already hungry."

"You have no idea what it's like to be me." Felix said pulling out an apple he had in a pouch that hung from his belt.

"So being a jerk takes up more energy than a normal person." Felix turned his head to Kairi. "You could at least try to be friendly."

"Keep dreaming, caw!" Huginn cowed from Felix's hair.

"I can do whatever I want. Half the first years are afraid of me and Izzy." Felix reinforced not bothering to stop his trek towards the cafeteria. He spun around and began walking backwards. Isabel watched from a short distance. "Not like anyone's gonna stop me." He was stopped, by the pair of breasts that had ran into his arm.

Felix looked down and saw Simone on ground wearing a sleeveless long coat and pants. "Sorry about that." She said standing up. "Someone I thinks I can't find them." A scythe, the blades of which were long and red, appeared in burst of lucid black light. Simone pulled out a knife with a serrated blade from a belt hidden by her coat and created an ice chain to attache to the scythe. She grabbed the chain and swung it over her head before throwing it. The knife hooked around the chain trapping the invisible object it had just coiled around.

Sora watched in awe as Simone effortlessly yanked on the chain pulling the now visible Ienzo towards herself. "I told you we were looking for a third member today."

Ienzo sneered looking the other way. "And I told you I want to finish a book today." He said nonchalantly. "Besides, after that spectacular failure last night, I figured you'd be taking a few days break." He vanished from sight then reappeared and few feet away causing Simone chain and knife to drop to the ground. "Now if you'll excuse me…"

Everyone stood and watched as Ienzo walked away more concerned with his teleportation than his personality except for Felix. "Who's an ass now?"

"You both are." Sora said.

"He's not getting away that easily." Simone dismissed her scythe and ran after him "Get back here!" Ienzo dodged through an oncoming crowd of students and Simone followed post haste knife in hand. They dissipated at the sight the knife

"Okay…" Riku said watching the scene. "Hey, Jake, the cafeteria's this way." Riku said noticing the other boy walk away.

Jake who had been lost in thought barely noticed when Riku called. Shizuko and Duffie began to follow wondering where he was headed. "I'll eat later. There's something I gotta look into. See ya later."

"What got into him?" Riku asked looking at Sora and Kairi. He quickly noticed that Felix and Isabel went ahead to eat. "Why am not surprised."

**Heart Gear**

The hour Auron had given for lunch came and went with a few students opting to enter through the new "door" Felix had made earlier. "Okay, now we get to something a few more of you might be interested in." Auron pushed a button on his board and presentation appeared on the screen. "Field assignments are work done in real field. They're missions to different Worlds that allow real life experience in fighting the consumed and fools who try to control them.

"The student website has a link going to a list of assignments available. From there, you select an assignment and print off the official form. After that, bring it to me. If I approve, I'll sign it. You then take that form to the Gummi hanger where you'll be transported to the World your assignment is on. I suggest taking a duffle bag with some clothes and toiletries in it. I can't say for sure how long you'll be on an assignment.

"However, let me warn you, though." His tone changed to something much more serious. "These missions aren't fun and games. They're as serious it gets. People have died on these assignments. For that and other reasons I won't be accepting anything higher than a one star rated assignment."

"Translation: I can get my projects started." Felix murmured. Sora turned having heard Felix loud and clear being directly in front of him. Jake noticed too but, was rather indifferent. "What?"

"Anyway…" Auron said with his loud voice. "You're free to go enjoy the rest of the day. The real classes begin tomorrow."

Rather than leave like everyone else Sora let his curiosity be known. "Felix, just what are these projects of yours?"

Felix raised an eyebrow and hopped onto the desk top. He looked down from the higher tier crouching and asked, "And just why in hell should I tell you?"

"Because I can tell it's just gonna cause trouble for other people." Sora said sternly.

"Sora, just calm down." Kairi looked dead at both of the boys.

Felix scratched his hair, smiled, and turned his head away. "Ya know, Sora, if you'd let what little attitude you have take over every now and then, you'd be much better off."

"If yours would shut up you'd be better off."

Felix chuckled. "See, that's what I'm talking about. Tell ya what." Felix jumped from the desk and landed in front of Auron. "Last two minutes against me in a fight I'll let ya in my little projects."

"Sora, think about this for a second." Riku warned.

The Kingdom Key flashed into Sora's hand as he turned towards the stairs. "Looks like someone took the bait." Jake nudged at Shizuko and Duffie both of whom simply watched the situation unfold. "May as well make a few observations of our own. But, it's already obvious we can't win in head long battle." Jake glanced at the hole the wall.

The students who were leaving changed their plans as got to higher tiers to watch. Auron had not moved from his desk. "Seeing as you two insist on destroying my classroom even further, I really don't have much of choice but to supervise. Are both combatants ready?" A clock with a 2:00 appeared n Auron's board. Sora bent his knees and held his Keyblade in both hands while Felix took a simple boxing stance. They nodded. "Begin!"

Sora charged head first at Felix swinging his weapon as he came up close. Felix ducked quickly avoiding the attack completely and came back up with an uppercut at Sora's jaw. Narrowly dodging the punch, Sora stepped back and fired a Blizzard spell from the tip of the Keyblade. The ice was smashed to pieces by Felix's arm bracers. 1:54.

Felix went on the offensive. His fists were raised prepared to go for Sora but balls of flame encircled him. Sidestepping, Felix threw a punch encased in magenta tinted light aimed at Sora's head but the Keyblade intercepted him. Sora, however, found himself lifted off the ground and flung into the wall next to Auron's right side. 1:47.

By rolling, Sora managed to avoid becoming one with the wall. Said wall now had a hole in it. Realizing he did not want to be pushed into a corner, Sora moved into open floor space. Another Blizzard was fired off this one freezing over the hole while Felix swerved out the way. 1:44.

Fists raised, he charged at Sora. Attempting to seize an opening, Sora swung with all his might at Felix. He anticipated for Felix to duck again and readied a Fire spell. However, his swing was stopped mid way through. The Keyblade bounced off of Felix's bracers and spell released itself from the tip in an uncontrolled blaze. Felix's fist glowed again this time hitting Sora in the gut. The punch shook everything inside of Sora's body from his stomach to the brain. Air forcibly came from up his lungs. The Kingdom Key was dropped to the floor as Sora collapsed and blacked out. 1:39, the clock stopped.

**Heart Gear**

"Oh my, you three must really like it in here." Dr. Jhevari said with a smile. Sora woke up ten minutes later in the infirmary with Kairi and Riku standing over him. He was okay except for the fact it felt like his stomach had a hole in it. Aerith Gainsborough was there with them helping the doctor run things and was a fourth year student. "Or perhaps you went got crush on Aerith."

"Dr. Jhevari, could you please not joke around like that." Aerith requested noticing Riku and Sora's faces turn red.

"Anyway, you'll be fine once the pain, which from what I've heard is like taking three sledge hammers to the gut at the same, subsides."

"Are you alright, Sora?" Kairi asked with concern.

"Yeah, I'm fine but, what did he do to me?" Sora asked touching his stomach. "Wait, do you know what happened?" Sora asked the doctor.

The doctor sat down in her chair and took a sip of her tea. "Yes, that technique Hunter uses. It's been described as the strongest punch in the Academy. Delivered like an ordinary punch but so much more powerful. Unfortunately the rules of the tournament state that I'm not permitted give you any help whatsoever."

"What kind of rule is that?" Riku asked.

"It's rule for the sake of fairness." Weston's voice seemed to come from nowhere. Aerith shook her head. "If a team in the same class as another got help from the teacher, it wouldn't be fair, now would it?" Weston jumped out of an electrical socket and materialized in between Kairi and Riku. His koala was eating some eucalypts leaves. "Afternoon, Doctor, Aerith, Keyblade Wielders."

"And just how do you know we're Keyblade Wielders?" Riku questioned

"Me and Namarrkun here just jumped out of a power outlet." Weston pointed out. "Do you really think it's hard for me to gather information? At this school, there quite a few people who run around in the walls. But, that's not what I'm here for. No, I'm here to do you a favor." All eyebrows were raised. "After that pwnage a few minutes ago you must have realized the simple fact is Felix far stronger than you are." Weston rubbed his chin stubble and decided to correct himself. "No, that's not quite right. While in terms of destructive power you'll never match Felix, you _can_ match his skill in a month."

"And just what's wrong with our skill now. Ow!" Sora was immediately flicked in the head.

"Slow reflexes, lack of stamina, and a total lack of tolerance to pain: to name a few things." Weston retracted his hand. "All of which can be solved with hard work and ass-busting which I am humbly offering to you for free, no strings attached."

"And if we say no."

"Then, be prepared to experience an ass whooping the likes of which even God would say 'damn that looks painful' to or you could just not enter the tournament at all, save yourselves the trouble."

"I'd take it if I were you." Jhevari chimed.

The three looked at each for moment. Though doubtful they reached an unvoiced but unanimous decision. "We accept."

"Good, be at the Gummi hanger at eight o'clock sharp, packed and ready to go." Weston jumped into the socket before an objection could be voiced.

**Heart Gear**

Night had fallen in Twilight Town. Most students had decided to turn in but some were still roaming about the cobblestone walkways of the campus. Two of them were Weston and Aerith. "Weston, what are you up to?"

"You start a conversation with me, I'm flattered." He replied in an overly done fashion. "In fact I'm so happy I'm tempted to let you hold Namarrkun."

"I'm serious. What do want with those three?"

Weston's smile dropped as he realized that there was no getting out of this one. "It's just as I said. I want to make them stronger, no strings attatched." Aerith was not satisfied. "Okay, their performance may catch the attention of certain individuals the names and goals of which I've yet to learn."

"This is about that dice thing, isn't it?" Aerith said moving closer. "Even if you're right and there is something to it, won't this put them in danger as well?"

"If it's the World Order, they won't go after those first years. They'll go after me and, I'll see 'em comin' a mile away."

"You know you're not sure about that."

"You're right." Weston jumped into the nearest socket and fled. "I'm not."


	3. Agrabah

**Lesson Three**

"**Agrabah"**

Riku sat grumbling in the Gummi Hanger with Sora and Kairi waiting for Weston. The three had packed their bags with two days worth of clothes, some food, and some potions in case of injury. The hangar was a massive structure painted mostly orange. Most the ships were of the same design, given blue and white paint job with a number ranging from one to thirty painted onto its side in blue. Besides them, there were quite a few custom ships that belonged to students who had obtained them during their days prior to the Academy

"He said eight o'clock sharp." Riku complained. "It's eight-twelve and he still hasn't shown up."

"Maybe he got distracted." Sora suggested.

"_Maybe_ this was a bad spur of the moment idea." Riku lamented. "I mean, who does that guy remind you of? Long brown hair, pink eyes. The pets who, by the way, are probably smarter than they are…"

"Hey! I find that to be offensive." Said a female voice. The three looked around and saw no one around except Cid drinking his coffee. "Down here." They looked down and saw a squirrel chewing on an acorn. Upon finishing its food, it threw the shell at Riku. "What's up?"

"A talking squirrel…" Sora said staring at it.

"Someone's not too bright." The voice commented in a playful manner. The squirrel rose and from underneath appeared a human girl's head. When she came up neck high, the girl's hair could be seen to be brown with dyed red bangs and a tendency to spike. Pink eyes were set behind rectangular glasses and her ears each had multiple piercings. "Name's Maggie. Now then, White Haired Pretty Boy, what was that you were saying?"

"I was saying that the two pink eyed guys who I assume you to be related to you keep their pets to do the thinking for them." In a split second Riku was on the floor, grasping his crotch. "What? When?" He grunted in pain hoping no permanent damage had been done.

"Wow, you really do need help if couldn't dodge a kick that slow." She mocked.

"Maggie, stop harassing boys you like." Sure enough Weston appeared from a socket with a duffle bag. "It makes you seem less attractive and more violent."

"Please, like I'd ever even _dream_ of going out with a guy who can't take a light tap to the balls."

"You call that 'light'?" Riku pushed himself to his feet enduring his pain. "You're wearing freaking _boots_! And where have you been?" He pointed at Weston. "You said eight o'clock."

"A true warrior must always be versatile." Weston justified. "Time is nothing more than a measurement of one movement after another. You can't be sure where a person will be at a certain time. To them eight o'clock is nine o'clock. And more importantly than that, I had to convince our mutual friend Sir Auron to sign these." After he was done bullshitting, Weston pulled out three forms each with Auron's signature. "Three passes signed and ready to go."

They took them seeing paperwork to be taken care of, Auron's signature fresh on the paper. "Uh, why was there a bite taken out of mine?" Sora asked noticing teeth marks around the area where the corner had been.

"Sorry, Namarrkun got hungry." The koala was now eating leaves. "Come on, we don't have all day. This isn't just ordinary school. Lives are on the line."

"Wait a minute." Riku objected. "First of all, where are we going? Secondly, what are we doing there?"

"See, I like you." Weston said blatantly ignoring the questions. "You're willing to question what gets thrown at you out loud. You wonder what other people are putting on your plate. That's the type of personality that changes things. But at the time same it's the type that raises hell."

"Now you're just talking around the…" Riku stopped and quivered when Maggie's leg passed through his body as she flipped onto her feet. It felt like a bizarre sinister tickle had just gone through his body. "B-boundaries!"

"Quit your bitchin'." Maggie replied turning away. Her body was now visible with a pair of hot pants and open vest with a strapless top that barely covered more than her breasts. A small backpack was on her shoulders. Her forearms had three belts wrapped around them each. The squirrel slipped into her top. Riku and Sora stared full attention.

"Hey, hello," Kairi said snapping her fingers. "Weston is leaving."

"I so wish I was that squirrel." Sora said weakly. This earned him a nutshell to the head.

"[Bring it on bitch!]" The squirrel challenged. Sora didn't understand a thing he had said thinking it to be random squirrel noises.

"Ratatoskr, that's not nice." Maggie scolded.

"[Oh, like _you're_ one to talk?]" Ratatoskr replied. "[_Stomp 'em in the nuts! Stomp 'em in the nuts!_ Ring any bells?]"

"It wasn't a stomp. It was a kick."

"[Same difference.]"

Ignoring his sister, Kairi walked up to Weston and listened his chat with Cid. "Hi, Cid." He said in a friendly tone.

"Go the hell away." He replied. Kairi was not surprised. She herself wasn't exactly liking the situation much herself questioning their decision even further with every moment. "You can either take a ship or go do whatever, but you can_not_ be here."

"Aw, what happened to the fun times we had together?"

"Those 'fun times' included but are not limited to explosions, pranks, ship jacking, pantsing, stuff blowing up, a koala trying to _eat my hair_, spontaneous combustion with large amounts of outward force, crashing Gummiships into buildings, more explosions, vandalism, having sex in the hanger, breaking into my house, setting the Academy on fire, wrecking _orphanages_, TPing the administration wing, destruction of Academy equipment, having sex _in my house_, power surges, pornography distribution, grand theft auto, implosions, property damage, breaking and entering, lightning strikes, and most of this stuff have somehow led to explosions, even the TPing. I'm still trying to figure that out."

"Didn't you say explosions like five times?" Kairi asked.

"Look who found a pattern." Cid remarked sarcastically.

"Okay, so I have a bit of a knack for destruction…"

"A bit?" Kairi interjected. Weston's reputation had been proven to be one of scandal and intrigue.

"But you and I both know I'm one the best students here."

"You're one of the strongest." Cid corrected. "Not the best. And even then I can name four students who can and have beaten you."

"All irrelevant to me being here." Weston turned around and looked at the first years doing what they had been a minute ago. "Okay everyone; stop gawking and bickering and load up."

"Hold on." Cid interrupted. "I stopped caring how you get outta here years ago. But these four, I need paperwork." Everyone handed there forms into Cid who check to see if they hadn't been forged by Weston. "Last chance _not _to go." Cid offered.

"I'm seriously thinking of taking you up on the offer." Riku said.

"Too late for that." Riku quickly found himself wrapped up by arms made of a magenta energy. He turned his head and saw Weston standing there calmly with the arms extending from his arms. He struggled but couldn't move. "This is our family technique, 'Vector.' Those arms have the strength of my real ones which by the way can put holes in five inch thick steel with one punch. 'Friad ya can't power yourself outta this one."

"I'm guessing you're not gonna let go." He replied giving a frustrated glare.

"Of course not." Weston dragged Riku onto a Gummiship with the other three following in a more willing fashion. Inside the ship was rather spacious. A console filled with lights, levers, and an assortment of other gadgets to control the ship sat in front of the pilot's chair. Behind that there were two rows of couches against the wall with straps for safety and windows to see outside.

"Okay then kiddies, time to get down to business." He released Riku and sat in the pilot's seat. "As you can see this is a three star mission rather than a one star. For me it's a piece of cake sprinkled with sugar but, for you brats it might actually be challenge."

"Wait a minute." Sora said. Weston rolled his eyes as he entered commands into the control console. "Auron said he'd only let us go on one star assignments. How'd we get three?"

"Because he knows you're with me, duh."

"That doesn't make me feel better."

"Anyway, let's get going I'll explain the details on the way." The engines came to live as Weston took the controls. "Hey, Cid we clear?" He said into the intercom.

"Highwind 7 is clear for takeoff." Cid responded while opening the roof of the hanger. "And if I see even one scratch when y'all get back, you know what'll happen, Weston."

"Alright, sheesh." Weston raised the ship into air keeping it stable over the hanger. Seven large rings floated in the air ascending into the sky each one farther out. Orange holograms were project into the interiors. Weston lined up with first ring. "Highwind 7 prepared for launch, en route to Agrabah." He said as the holograms turned green in order from lowest to highest. "Launching in five, four…" Weston began to rev the thrusters slowing building up power. "…three, two…" Sora and the others braced themselves in their seats for the launch. "…one!" Weston put the throttle on full blast propelling the ship through the first ring. He raised the angle a bit just before they received a large burst in speed from going through the ring which put them on course for the second. The process was repeated six more times each at larger intervals of space but not of time. By the time Gummiship was outside of Twilight Town's atmosphere, its speed was blinding, blurring the image of anything it passed by and appearing as a bright streak to all those who watched from the ground.

Cid looked into the sky and watched the ship disappeared from view completely. "Sure hope they know what they're gettin' into." He said as the roof closed. Looking at the forms he noticed that there were nine stars instead of three. "That crafty sonavu bitch."

**Heart Gears**

From inside the Gummiship, Twilight Town seemed insignificant in the grand scheme of things. Countless stars dotted the sky each representing its own world. Meteors, asteroids, and comet floated in space, decorating the blue phantasmal sky even further.

Weston pushed a few buttons on the console activating the autopilot and turned around in his chair to face his first year charges. "Alrighty then, how about we introduce ourselves properly." He said in a chipper fashion. "Name's Weston Hunter. Eldest of six. Can talk to marsupials and control electricity. Currently in a relationship, sorry Red." He said looking at Kairi who simply ignored the comment. "Everything else is insignificant. Who's next?"

Everyone else was silent. They looked around awkwardly until Maggie stood up. "I'm Maggie Hunter, triplet to Felix and Maria Hunter. I specialized in analysis, infiltration, and sabotage of the digital kind. My boobs are the biggest out of my sisters."

"Okay…" Sora muttered at the acclamation. He prayed that his blush at statement about her breasts wasn't visible. In spite of his doubts about her abilities, he was still jealous of the squirrel. "Um, I'm Sora. We're from Destiny Islands. I don't really have any special abilities besides the Keyblade. Mine actually looks like a key if that counts."

"Interesting…" Weston said with minor intrigue. The Keyblade was the least common of HGs. Out of the thousands of Wielders he had crossed in the past only seven could use the Keyblade. If he hadn't known any better he'd never say they were keys. But all Keyblades had one thing in common: the ability to work on any lock, a power he was also somewhat jealous of. "Next!" He called as though they were taking orders at a deli.

Kairi decided it was her turn. "I'm Kairi. I'm from Destiny Islands too. I'm the mayor's daughter. I'm pretty good with water magic."

"And you…" Weston said looking at Riku.

"Riku," was all he said thoroughly frustrated with his current situation.

"Every party needs a pooper…" Weston muttered playfully. "Okay then on what we really came for. For starters let's talk about our destination." He folded his hands and leaned forward pressing his head against them. "Agrabah is desert world with relatively low tech when compared to some like Twilight Town. As it now very few people know of other Worlds or of the Consumed. In fact only the higher ups of the government have slightest clue what they are." Weston paused and tapped his index fingers together repeatedly. "I suppose I should explain this to you now. The World Order exists specifically for the goal of maintaining inter-World peace, law, and order. In some cases, it's simply better for the public of a World to be left unaware of other Worlds. Religion, political turmoil, etcetera, etcetera, it's just safer if the people remain the dark. It's one the reasons why the Academy exists in Twilight Town instead of there being multiple. The second is cost efficiency and the third is that there aren't more than about fifty-thousand Wielders alive at any given point, if you're wondering.

"Anyway, my point is that we won't be able to move around the social hubs and use our powers unless they're stealth related. Fortunately, we'll be a remote area of the World so we won't have to worry too much. Our actual mission is quite simple. A Heartless known as the Kurt Zisa has appeared in the Cave of Wonders. We have to destroy it." He explained in his playful demeanor. "Any questions?"

Riku looked over at Weston prepared to ask one but stopped realizing getting a straight answer would be like pulling teeth. In his mind he wondered though. What could Weston possibly be up to? No matter how he thought about it nothing made sense. Felix was his brother. Why would he be helping his brother's opponents? He recalled the previous afternoon when he took Weston up on the offer. At that time, he was too angry think straight. But now that he had calmed, he couldn't figure out what Weston was thinking, beyond sabotage.

"What do want?" Riku asked Maggie. She had wrapped her arms around his left arm and was now pressing her breasts against him. Weston pretended he didn't see anything. One glance down gave Riku a clear view of her cleavage, completely shattering any solid train of thought he had.

"I wanted to know what you're thinkin' about." She replied coyly. "But now I do. So here's some reasons why you should trust us." Riku's face turned pale as he realized he had just been… "Read like a book. Believe me, there's nothing about you I don't at this point." She moved her face closer to his almost kissing him. "I could tell you anything you want to know about anyone, even things you don't know yourself."

"Hey! Are you done yet?" Kairi grabbed Maggie by the shoulder seeing how uncomfortable Riku had gotten. Maggie moved her eyes but not her head glancing Kairi. A shiver went up Kairi's body that started at her hand traveled up to her head and down to her toes.

"Kairi Umihana, birthday September 4th. Five foot four and two-thirty-seconds inches. One hundred thirty-seven pounds. A natural red head. Adopted by mayor of Destiny Islands upon mysteriously appearing on the beach with no memories other than your name, age, and birthday. Your reason for coming to the Academy was to find out your origins rather than what you told the mayor about wanting to become strong to protect your islands from Heartless."

Kairi recoiled her hand and felt the same violation as Riku had. Maggie released her grip and folded her legs over giving a playful glance at Sora who simply scooted away hoping to avoid having his mind read. "If you think that's bad, wait until you get a load of I'm really capable of." That thought sent all three Keyblade Wielders back even further.

**Heart Gears**

As Weston had explained, Agrabah was desert, a massive desert with sand and the occasional shrubbery. The only proof that humans managed to survive the sands was the capital for which the world was given its name. Its towers stood high with the royal palace in the center of the city adorned with some of the most advanced architecture the World had available. The students stood outside the walls looking out into the expanse with their hearts filled with anticipation and the sun beating down on their heads. It was noon back at the Academy by the time they had arrived.

"This desert reeks." Riku said out loud. Everyone looked at him confused.

"I don't smell anything." Kairi said. "In fact this place seems kinda…" She tried finding a good word for her feeling. "Welcoming."

"I don't know about home, but all I smell is desert." Sora commented.

"It's probably just your sixth combining with your sense of smell." Weston began explaining. He tossed the group canteens of water with the World Order's insignia on them. He took out his smart phone which projected a 3D map of desert as well as figures such as temperature and wind speed. "Nice day for desert travel. Lucky us."

The group set out after applying SPF 60 sunscreen to themselves. After ten minutes of walking, Riku, Sora, and Kairi became terrorized by the thought of harsh day. The sun came down on them hard. It was nothing like their islands where it was usually comfortable except on really hot days. Even then, they had an ocean to swim in that kept them cool. Here in Agrabah, the air quivered off the sands constantly warming them from all directions. An occasional gust of wind cooled the group off a bit but also brought specks of hot sands to their faces. Namarrkun had brought Weston's hair over himself for shade. The Hunter's made a comment that their sisters, Maria and Sharron, wouldn't mind the heat at all. In a bid to stay cool, Kairi made orbs of water around everyone's heads which Sora froze, giving them all hats of ice. Weston commented that in was a good idea but they began to melt shortly afterward in the intense heat and were gone in less than half an hour forcing the process to be repeated.

By this time, the city was almost invisible on the horizon. The group moved forward with Weston's map guiding them further into desert. Riku mentioned that smell had gotten even stronger since they left the city. They had only travelled a few miles but it seemed to him like the difference was massive. He decided he'd ask Weston about it more when he had the chance.

After two hours of walking, they finally arrived at the entrance to the Cave of Wonders. Rather than an actual cave, it had the appearance of a temple with entrance being the maw of a massive black panther. They decided to rest just inside the cave because their legs had grown tired from walking. It was much cooler inside despite the threatening appearance leading Sora to figure that the entrance was designed to scare off thieves.

"Well, let's get moving." Weston said confidently after no more than ten minutes. The group entered the cave through a tunnel lit by torches along the wall. After a short walk they came to an open cavern. The floor was an odd pinkish color and square platforms came up from the floor at various heights. Sand trickled in from ceiling, sparkling against the light.

Riku stopped and looked for a moment. He couldn't stop his nose from twitching. "Something's here!" He quickly summoned Way to Dawn. As Riku anticipated, a mass of Heartless appeared from dark, swirling Corridors of Darkness. Some of them appeared as masked beings wearing purple, lose clothing and floating on crystal balls: Fortunetellers. A few were large and round bodied, dressed in Arabian clothing: Fat Bandits. Though, most of them were small beings encased in heated rock or ice cubes aptly called Fiery Globes and Icy Cubes respectively. All of them had the red and black Heartless emblem on their bodies and eerie glowing yellow eyes.

Sora summoned his own Keyblade and Kairi hers. Kairi's Moon Tide was silver colored and thin having blue waves emblazed on the pole. The "teeth" were a crescent moon. Around the hilt were waves moving up to the moon. A pure white pearl was its keychain.

"Let's go!" Sora said running head first into the enemy. Weston whistled at the act. Sora batted at one of the Fortunetellers but was swarmed by the Globes surrounding it instantly. They attacked him fiercely until a spout of water from Kairi doused them. Their movements slowed from cooling down letting Sora slay them in one slash.

"Sora, don't act so recklessly!" Kairi said. She swung her Keyblade manipulating the water to attack the smaller Heartless. Her action cleared a path allowing Riku to slash at the other Fortunetellers.

Weston hummed in interest at the sight. He and his sister had taken a seat on one of the platforms rather than take part in the battle. "She calls it Moon Tide. The name fits quite well." Maggie explained. "Like all HG, hers has a unique property as well. The 'teeth' of blade act as small point of Gravity Mastery. She can manipulate water like the moon. At least, that's the very surface of her power. Red doesn't have a clue what she's capable of."

"And the other two?"

"Can't really say for sure. Riku's pretty interesting. I'm not sure he realizes this or not, but he's one who can use both light and darkness evenly. That's particularly odd considering he lived so far away from darkness.

"Sora on the other hand is just a Jack of All Stats a _lot_ of raw magic in him. So much, he can't completely control it. It seeps out and makes his hair stand on end." She twirled a lock of her own spiked hair. "All in all, we should be able to get them to Felix's level by the end of month." She giggled a little and cracked a schemer's smile. "We'll have to give them Training from Hell a couple times to do it though. Guess my 'Special Serving' gets its maiden voyage this month."

Weston smiled at his sister's statement. He focused his attention back on the battle. The trio had managed to eliminate most of Heartless by this point; however, five Fat Bandits still remained. Sora and Riku charged with a wall of water in front of them. After multiple failed attempts they realized attacking the fronts of Heartless was useless and resorted to another tactic. The Fat Bandits all blew flames from their mouths turning the wall of water into steam. While their visibility was reduced, Sora and Riku ran around the Bandits striking down two each. When the steam cleared, the last one rubbed its head at the disappearance of its fellows. It stopped as two Keyblades were jabbed through its back. The bandit, like its fellow Heartless, dissolved in a cloud of darkness and disappeared leaving behind a crystalline pink heart that floated into the air and vanished.

The three dismissed the weapons when the coast was clear and relaxed. Sora looked at Weston and Maggie who were hopping off their platform. "You could've helped y'know." He said.

"We could do a lotta stuff we don't feel like. Get it?" Maggie replied. "We _could _just trap you guys down here and walk away. It's not too hard. But, we feel like keeping you alive and training you to fight our brother."

"We didn't ask for your help." Riku pointed out.

"But you took it when it was offered, didn't you?" Weston walked past them heading deeper into the cave down another tunnel. "All I'm asking out of you is to stop whining and trust us. If I seriously wanted to sabotage you I wouldn't be wasting my time like this."

**Heart Gears**

The group came to a stop at one of the caves obstacle. A three-foot wide path with a bottomless pit on either side stood in between them and the next room. This wouldn't be a problem if weren't for the twenty, four-foot diameter logs swinging back and forth on ropes. They had run into more Heartless on the way there, but nothing quite as scary as this.

"It changes every time." Weston said as he began his walk. Rather than avoiding them, he simply stopped them with his arms before they hit. He leisurely did so until he was across. The logs magically realigned themselves in the same pattern as when he started.

"My turn!" Maggie said. She walked across allowing the logs to pass through her body. Sora and Riku followed her against Kairi's advice. They were doing fairly well avoiding the logs until Maggie spotted a gold coin on the path. "Ooh, shiny!" She said as she bent down. Her hot-pants rode up, giving Riku and Sora view which they stopped to enjoy. They took the time appreciate that, in spite of her personality, Maggie had a nice rear end. It wasn't until a log blocked their view that they remembered the pit long enough to realize they were going into it.

Sora and Riku were knocked to either side of the pit with the sound of a laughing squirrel adding insult to injury. Despite being near incapacitated by his own laughter, Weston sent out Vectors and grabbed them before they escaped his sight. When they were reeled back, their faces were white from fear of death but turned red with embarrassment. Maggie was laughing as well with her gold coin in her fingers. Even Kairi began to chuckle when she realized they were okay. "Un-goddamn-believable…" Riku muttered at his own hormone driven foolishness.

**Heart Gears**

Kairi made it across the path without incident. Though with all that had happened, she had a few words to say to Maggie. Kairi held her hand out and blocked Maggie's path for a moment and lead her off to the back of the group. Once they'd made a decent distance away from the other three, Kairi began speaking. "Are you crazy!" She said in something of a whisper.

"Just a _little_ bit." Maggie taunted.

"You listen up, and you listen good. You can't just go around nearly getting people killed for your own entertainment."

"You _know_ that was funny."

"Wha- you…" Kairi stammered in frustration. "Yes, it was but, that's not the point. The point is you've been screwing with us all day and you're going to stop! Now!"

Maggie was silent for second and considered her next move. Within that second she decided to push Kairi against a wall and block her path to the others with arm. She moved in close with her body against Kairi's and her mouth to Kairi's ear. "Kairi. I'm gonna be honest with ya. I'm _not_ helping you three out of the goodness of my heart like Weston." She said with a devilish smile. "That's something that doesn't exist. I'm doing it 'cause I want to. Don't expect me to play nice; expect me to give to you results.

"See you have no reason to not trust us." Kairi felt a tickling sensation on stomach. She looked down and saw Maggie's hand passed through her shirt and into her stomach. "If we wanted to kill you, you'd be dead. I think we have an understanding." Maggie pulled out her hand and walked away leaving Kari stunned that the tables had been turned so easily. "Maybe it's just that you prefer me screwing with you. Bi the Way, nice legs." She sad winking.

Kairi slowly caught up to the group. Eventually the tunnel they were in let out into open cavern. Everyone except Weston was prepared for a trap. Instead what they found was a small path that down to a tablet. The area around them was another abyss. The way came was still there but there was nothing behind it. Sora walked up to the tablet and found he couldn't its inscription. However, when he touched it, the words seemed to flow into his mind. "Complete your task in the allotted amount of time…" He said out loud. "I think it's a trap."

"Isn't our task to get rid of the Kurt Zisa?" All heads nodded. "Then we accept!" Weston shouted while jumping back in the tunnel. The floor beneath the rest changed becoming a purple square. From the space above them a large, six armed Heartless swooped down. Its body was predominantly white with white trimmed with gold and white puffy pants. The actual body was segmented with black and brown joints. Its head appeared to be a plated cobra. In its middle arms was a pair of shotels. "Well, I'll be back in a day or two. Have fun." Weston said before disappearing into the cave.

The Kurt Zisa wasted no time attacking with its blades. Kairi barely managed to get her Keyblade up in time to guard but was still flung across the platform. The only thing that kept her from falling into the abyss was a barrier the surrounded the platform. Sora and Riku attempted to attack but were swatted away with little effort. A splash of water hit its head but was brushed off. Riku and Sora's spells were doing little to no damage.

The Kurt Zisa floated off the ground and began spinning around like massive top creating powerful whirlwind around itself. Riku ducked beneath it to avoid being sliced to ribbons. Sora side stepped barely avoiding the blades. Kairi slid into one of the corners just out of reach. Maggie stood in place and let blades pass through her body.

When the rotation ceased the floor beneath them began to glow before it vanished into thin air. The group dropped and landed on an orange platform with Kurt Zisa ready for more. It made multiple slashes at the group many of them only missing by hairs. Then, an idea came to Kairi's mind and, she hoped that the others would catch on. She called forth an orb of water which she waved in front the snake like head. It took the bait and its head followed the mass over to where Kairi was. The Heartless jumped into the air before spinning again, this time like razor bladed wheel. Kairi felt all the weight in her body disappear as the blades flew through leaving not even a scratch. Maggie hand was on her shoulder passing her powers onto Kairi. "You're welcome." Maggie said before the _thank you_ ever escaped Kairi's mind.

Sora and Riku saw the opening and attacked from behind. Riku struck with a flurry of sword slashes that drew the Kurt Zisa's attention toward himself. While it was distracted, Sora threw his Kingdom Key, ignited with a fire spell. The blade struck unleashed a blast flames that engulfed the Kurt Zisa's upper body.

_Where'd that come from? _Sora asked himself having never used the technique. _Strike Raid._ The name popped into his head without any effort on his part. The Keyblade returned to his hands and the flames went out on their own. The Kurt Zisa seemed more annoyed than damaged but it was notoriously difficult to tell with Heartless or the Consumed in general.

From behind the beast, Maggie delivered a spinning-back kick to its rear knocking off its feet. Sora and Riku jumped out way as it sailed forward before it crashed in the barrier. Everyone stopped and looked at Maggie while the Kurt Zisa slumped over. "What? Girls can't have Super Strength? That's sexist."

The floor lit up again and vanished in an instant dropping everything onto a green platform below. _One-third of your time remains,_ flowed into everyone's mind.

The Kirt Zisa was still downed and the Keyblade Wielders capitalized. They attacked from all sides doing as much damage as they could in their opportunity. However, its head was still active and swatted around in defense of the body. When it stood back up, it spun around creating a gust that blew everyone back. It floated off the platform and created an orb shaped barrier around itself. Sora was the first to attack and gave his hardest downward slash. The barrier held completely. Riku threw a fire spell and Kairi a burst of water, but neither damaged the barrier.

For thirty seconds they unleashed a volley of spells and slashes. By the time the barrier faded, the platform began to light again this time bright enough to completely eliminate sight. When the light stopped they found themselves back at the top with tablet and no sign of the Kurt Zisa. "That son of a bitch." Riku said realizing Weston nowhere to be found. "Everyone alright?"

"Yeah, in retrospect, we probably should've mentioned this part of the plan." Maggie said taking an apple from her bag.

"What plan?" Sora asked.

"Well, the magic being used is far too complicated for you to understand but, the bottom line is we can keep fighting that thing until we beat it under two minutes time." Maggie explained. "Our plan was for us to stay down here and do that while Weston deals with the real target."

"What do mean 'the real target'" Kairi asked.

"Uh, what target?" Maggie asked return.

**Heart Gears**

"Oh, that looks fun…" Weston said. He left the Cave of Wonders and returned to the desert were he faced his real goal. Behind him two Kurt Zisa's were collapsing and fading away. Before him was a gargantuan Heartless that stood at fifty stories. Its black, tyrannosaurus like body was covered in light brown armor everywhere except joints which Weston saw as weak points. Rather than claws at the ends of its toes and fingers there were massive spinning drills. The Heartless emblem sat on its breastplate. "How come he gets awesome finger drills? _I_ want awesome finger drills."

Weston touched his fingers together and started an electrical current. Black bandages appeared in the magenta lightning and wrapped his hands and forearms leaving only his finger tips exposed. His entire body began discharging electricity making him the only thing the monster had its yellow eyes on. The air around him shivered and the sand moved away. Weston put up his fists and showed the sadistic smile on his face further accented by the sound lightning crackling all around him. "Alright big boy, Showtime!"


	4. Party Rock

**Lesson Four**

"**Party Rock"**

Sora, Riku, Kairi, and Maggie stood on the green platform with the Kurt Zisa. After multiple attempts at defeating the Heartless within the time limit, their clothes had become ragged and worn. They had spent their time finding weak points and devising strategies to take the beast. This time they were sure they could finish it. At this they had managed to bring it down to its knees

The Kurt Zisa stood up ready to keep fighting. Sora didn't give it a chance to move. The Kingdom Key was ignited in his hand and thrown with all the force he could muster. In the air, it split into four wheels of flames. One hit the hip, another the head, and two the six shoulders, three each. All of them exploded into intense blasts of flames far more powerful than the first time Sora used the technique. The flames gathered into a single point reforming the Kingdom Key. It vanished in a burst of light and returned to its owner's hand who looked quite proud of work.

Riku and Kairi readied themselves for the final blow. The blade of Way to Dawn had been extended with magical energy. At the tip of Moon Tide, a circular pool of water was rapidly spinning creating a wavering refraction of light on the floor beneath. Riku charged with his Keyblade pointed forward. The Kurt Zisa was still dazed from its bath of fire and put up no resistance when it was stabbed through the chest. It staggered and swung it swords wildly desperately struggling to fight back. The pool Kairi had created was thrown at a diagonal when Riku moved out the way. While in the air the water thinned expanding a great amount in diameter. The edges had become razor sharp like saw blade.

When the water touched it, the beast stopped moving and dropped its shotels. The top half slid off and, the bottom half with Riku's Keyblade still run through it collapsed into the pool of water left behind. The Kurt Zisa's two halves began to fade creating a mist of darkness. When the beast was gone a pink heart appeared and floated into the abyss that surrounded them. The green platform vanished and revealed another part of the Cave of Wonders. A large purple door stood before the Wielders ready to be opened at moment's notice. They had won. "[Go chew on that, bitch!]" Ratatoskr squeaked.

All of them collapsed onto the floor exhausted from the battle. "Shit. If I'd known it'd take this long I would've left a long time ago." Maggie whined. "Aw, man, I smell horrible. I'm so taking a bath on the way home."

Riku forced himself upright and looked at the doors to the treasure room. Then he noticed something. Weston was resting against the left door looking at the first years. His appearance was startling. He was covered in bandages from his neck down to his legs. His coat looked like it survived a war then went back for a second helping. His bandana was gone letting his bangs fall onto face. Namarrkun was resting in his lap. "What? Never seen an injured guy with a koala before?" He said nonchalantly as he stood up. Namarrkun grab on his coat. "It seriously took you three days just take that thing down. We've got a long way to go."

"Wait a minute! Three _days_! Are you serious?" Riku asked.

"Yep, got down here 'bout six hours ago myself." Weston admitted as he walked over to them. "Had a good nap while I was at it."

"Forget that." Sora said looked at Weston's wounds. "What happened to you?"

"Your real target I presume." Riku answered.

Weston scratched his head realizing his sister had run her mouth. He sat down and looked up at the endless abyss. "Huh, where to start?" He said motioning for the others to gather around. "I suppose we turn back clock to about ten years ago. The sorceress, evil witch, Maleficent, tried to take over the universe by using Kingdom Hearts, the heart of all Worlds. To do so, she kidnapped the Seven Princesses of Light. People say that they're only a legend, but they exist. Matter of fact one of 'em lives here in Agrabah. Think her name's Jasmine.

"Anyway the final one lived in the World called Hallow Bastion. Used to be a pretty nice place but, thanks to Maleficent it's overrun by Heartless. Put simply after she took the World over, a massive battle between her and the World Order took place. The final princess died and the World was deemed inhospitable due to the fact that Heartless are crawling all over it. Problem is that Maleficent survived and escaped.

"For the past ten years she's been idle, waiting for something. But she's on the move again. Heartless attacks have increased as well as erratic activity among darkness users in the Realm of Light. The literal biggest problem we have right now are the Twelve Titans. We don't where they came from or whose Heartless they are. All we know is that they're insanely powerful, ridiculously large, and answer only to Maleficent. One of them was making Heartless on this world."

"And you _fought_ it!" Kairi said shocked at the thought of it.

"And _won_, thank you very much." Weston boasted flexing the guns. He then struck a pose with one arm pointing into air at an angle and the other still flexing. Everyone looked at torso as some of the bandages were dyed red with his blood. "Anyone wanna help me with that?"

"Looks like it was more trouble than you anticipated." Riku said with a chuckled.

"Kid, you have no idea." Weston said.

Maggie looked at Kairi. "Well, you gonna do something?

"He's your brother." Kairi bit.

"So…" Maggie weld her hands open towards in an inviting manner. Kairi groaned before walking to Weston.

Weston shrugged off his coat and allowed Kairi to remove his crudely wrapped bandages. When she looked at the wounds the fact that it hadn't been an easy victory was driven home even further. His back was covered cuts and wounds that looked like a mad beast had been tearing at him. Among his wounds were also scars that had been there previously. Kairi noticed there was a tattoo of same design as Maria's on his left forearm. During the three days they'd been in the Cave of Wonders she'd noticed it on the small of Maggie's back as well.

"So…" Riku began watching Kairi. "Any particular reason you left us down to deal with that thing rather than do it…" Riku was interrupted by Maggie boot being in front of his face. Just before his nose was broken he jumped up and away. This was followed by a flurry of kicks all which were dodged. "What the hell was that for!?" He asked.

"To answer your question." Maggie replied sitting back down. "Those kicks were about twice as fast as the one I hit you with in the hanger. Wielders have superhuman senses and reflexes by nature. We brought you down here to force those to wake up as well as gauge your current strengths and weaknesses. My specialty is analysis. Reading minds gives me some insight but, it can't beat seeing something in person. Now I have all the information needed."

"Can ask a question?" Sora said raising his hand. "If these Twelve Titans are running around, why hasn't anyone else heard of them. I mean shouldn't the people know that twelve giant monsters are running around trying to destroy everything."

"_Eleven_ Titans thank you." Weston reminded Sora of his victory. Kairi pulled his bandages tight resulting in him grunting pain. "Anyway based on what I've been told it's to prevent panic. The World Order has enough on its plate right now with Maleficent along with the other things that have been crawling out of the woodworks lately. Telling people that there are eleven super Heartless out there wouldn't exactly be calming."

"So not telling people until the things attack some poor village somewhere is the better option?" Riku argued clearly upset. "What kind of bullshit is that?"

"Don't start getting' all high and mighty, Silver." Maggie said holding a green apple in her hands. "The World Order is _known_ for maintaining peace across the worlds. Its methods of doin' so, not so much. If people saw some of the stuff the Order was doin' there'd be revolts all 'round. But, diplomats don't really care long as the job's gettin' done."

Kairi finished with Weston's bandages and sighed. "Just what kind of things are they doing? You know, don't you?"

Weston pulled his coat back on and looked away into the abyss. "Believe me, you'll find out soon enough." was all he said. "I can guarantee this with certainty: their kinds of things that'll definitely change the world and you."

**Heart Gears**

After resting for a couple hours the students finally left the Cave of Wonders. Upon exiting, Weston summoned the Gummiship to remove the group from Agrabah. His reason for not dropping them outside the Cave was that it would draw the attention of the Titan who was mentioned to have been named "Skysplitter."

It was eleven o'clock at night they returned to the Academy. To everyone's surprise it was quiet. It was Friday so they had been expecting everyone to be wandering around doing stuff. Fourteen hundred teenagers couldn't have just disappeared. Then they found Aerith walking the cobblestone path with an annoyed look on her face. "Weston! You're going to be late for own meeting." She looked at his wounds and shook her head. "You just couldn't wait could you?"

"Really! You guys are actually coming?" Weston said with false excitement and surprise. "Why I'm flattered that you would accept my most humble of invitations." He said bowing as a showman.

"Yes, well there's been a change in location." Aerith told him even more annoyed than before. She pulled out her cell phone and opened a text message. "'First-year boys' dorm: room 247'" She read aloud.

"Wait a minute! That's my room!" Sora said aloud.

"Oh, that's not a good a sign." Riku commented as he adjusted the straps on his bag.

**Heart Gears**

Everyone except Weston who went to get a different coat went straight Sora and Felix's dorm room. Everything seemed normal, as normal as a school full of super powered teenagers could get at least, until the door was opened. To Sora's shock and bewilderment at least three-hundred teenagers were partying in his room with intro of "Party Rock Anthem" blasting through speakers.

"Oh hell yeah!" Maggie shouted jumping onto a couch and putting up the horns. "PARTY ROCK PARTY IN PROGRESS!"

Sora ran into his room and made an attempt to enter crowd of dancing teens realizing that the room had expanded to a size several times larger than the dorm it was in. A large spiral staircase was in the center leading up the higher floors. Large TV's were mounted on the wall displaying the blitzball games from across the Worlds.

"What the hell has he been doing?" Sora asked slowly being trapped on the dance floor, the outer edges at least. The center was being occupied by a brunette upperclassman who had taken over. Her hands and feet were covering flames adding a unique flare her dancing. Her eyes were pink and her loose fitting pants were unzipped from the knee down revealing the same black tattoo Weston and Maggie had. Sora concluded that she must the Sharon they had mentioned in Agrabah and kept moving, hoping Felix had made the place fireproof.

Sora received many "What the hell"s and "Dude, chill"s in his fruitless effort to push his way through.

Taking the hint from the song, Sora was forced to dance, quite badly, across the floor. He didn't draw any attention to himself but couldn't help but to notice the other students. During the first few days in Twilight Town he hadn't actually noticed but almost all the student had odd hair and eye colors. The fact that every color known to man was basically flashing front of him made this hard to ignore. He had once heard that having an odd natural hair or eye color was the tell-tale of a Wielder which made sense when he thought about it. Riku was the only the person on Destiny Islands with silver hair and, he was the only native with blue eyes.

Sora noticed Jake hanging out with a few girls who were more than interested in him and figure he'd know where Felix was.

"Thought I heard you come in." Jake said as though it was his room. "Heard you were hanging with Weston Hunter. Any truth in that?"

"Yeah, but that's not important right." Jake raised an eyebrow. "Do know where Felix is?"

"Somewhere on the fourth floor."

"_Fourth floor_…" Sora said mouth agape when he was finished.

"Surprised me too."

**Heart Gears**

Kairi had followed but quickly lost Sora and Riku to the crowd. She had found herself among a pair of familiar faces sitting at a bar that had been serving drinks to the partiers. One of them was Shizuko who had been casually watching the party from a distance. The other was the bartender named Kimberly Nation, or Kim as she preferred to be called. The summer before, she had been sent to Destiny Islands to invite and provide information about the Academy to Kairi and her friends. Her hair was asparagus green with teal eyes to match. A blue bandana was wrapped around her hair keeping it from falling past her neck. She wore a white button up blouse that had the sleeves rolled up and the top button undone. It just so happened she was Weston's girlfriend.

Kim spun her HG, a cocktail stirring rod with a hatchet engraved into it named Platinum Fizz, around in her finger. A pair of bottles floated up and released their contents into the air in an equal amount. They mixed together swirling into an even flavored cocktail before pouring into a glass with orange wedge. "One Fuzzy Naval, on the house." Kim said warmly handing the drink to Kairi.

"Uh, no thanks." She said courteously. "Most I've ever drank is a glass of champagne at my dad's victory parties."

"Really, well that's a disappointment." Kim said dejected. She waved the Platinum Fizz and the ingredients separated returning to their original bottles. She took the orange wedge and ate it herself. "Well, at least have a glass of water." A glass was poured and Kairi drank immediately realizing that it was vodka.

"Excuse me." Shizuko said. "I'd like an Aviation."

"With or without crème de violette?"

"With."

"Comin' right up." Kim mixed the drink with ice and strained it into a cocktail glass dropping a cherry in. "Surprised you know what an Aviation is."

Shizuko downed her drink and looked over at Kairi who still sipping her drink. "I travelled a lot for my job. I picked up quite a few things over the years. A taste for cocktails happened to be one of them."

"So Kairi, I've got a question for you." Kim said as she took Shizuko's glass to be cleaned. "Why did you join the Academy?"

"Didn't I tell you? I wanted protect my home." She said looking away. "I want to protect my islands and my family."

"That's true but there's something more to it than that." Kim said as she wiped the glass. "So tell me. A little girl talk."

Kairi fiddled with her glass and shyly looked at Kim who smiled at her. Something about Kim was inviting and warm. For the life of her, Kairi couldn't understand what Kim saw in Weston. Maybe it was same feeling of acceptance Kim gave off that let her see Weston's good traits. "My parents, I mean my adoptive parents have been good to for all these years, but I want to know who my real parents are. I figured if I came here, there was nothing I couldn't find out."

Kim placed the cocktail glass on the shelf to dry and turned around to Kairi. She rested her elbow on the counter and her head on her palm and looked out into the crowd. "Funny most people are here to get away from their parents not look for them." Kim said absently. "See most of these guys, didn't chose to come here. They were sent away because their parents didn't want Wielders in the house."

"But everyone seemed so excited to be here." Kairi said.

"Well, course they did. That's the kinda feeling you get when among people who are the same as you." Kim said putting her eyes on Kairi. "I don't know about you, but lots of the students, myself included, were ostracized for their powers. With our crazy hair colors and styles its damn near impossible hide them. To make matters worse, Wielders tend attract the Consumed so just being near us dangerous. If it weren't for the barrier around the town, we'd be getting swarmed every day. Fact is without the Academy lots of people would have nowhere to go."

"That's basically racism, isn't it?"

"Yeap, but when you're a genuine threat to the people around you and their society, laws that should be protecting us tend to get fuzzy." Kim moved her eyes past Kairi. "Then there are people like this guy, who cause problems and are sent here as basically as a prison sentence."

Kairi turned and saw Weston's figure standing over her. He had changed into a black coat and his bandana had been returned to his forehead. His koala was eating on his shoulder. "Well, look who's tellin' stories on me." He said playfully.

"Do anything stupid like you did the other day again, and I might be giving your eulogy." Kim replied with a harsh voice. "Don't you have some important meeting to get to?"

"Please, just a chat between friends. Nothing serious like the world in danger or anything like that." Sarcasm filled Weston's voice that Kairi made curious as to what he was up to. "Anyway I must be going. Bye." He leaned down and kissed Kim who smiled at him before walking away.

"Who's he going to talk with?" Kairi asked.

"The the five fourth years that control this school." Kim answered. "While the World Order technically controls it, the ones who keep this place from tearing itself apart are the students themselves. It's an unofficial group the students are truly following their lead whether they realize it or not. You'll understand soon enough."

**Heart Gears**

After climbing up four flights of stairs, one twice due to being knocked down by an inflatable King Mickey Mouse, and plowing his way through the party, Sora finally reached his roommate. He was too busy dancing to turn his head Sora's direction but still said, "Sora! Wazzup!"

" 'Wazzup'! What d'you mean 'Wazzup'! What the hell happened to our room!" Sora demanded.

"Spatial manipulation, bitch!" Felix replied. "We got an arcade, a weight room, a shark tank, a gourmet kitchen, a bar, an indoor swimming pool, five private suites, and so much more!"

"How did you do all this!" Sora asked knowing Felix couldn't have done this in three days.

"Mexicans, mi amigo!" Felix responded. "High quality for a low price! Well, it's more like they owed me the low price but, that's another story. All you need to know is that me 'n' Jorge go way back."

"And you're allowed to do this?" Sora asked in disbelief.

"Can't really say for sure. Not too many solid rules around this place if ya haven't noticed." Felix said. Sora doubted if Felix paid attention to the rules at all or simply acted on his whims. One thing was for sure. He wasn't getting of the sleep wanted so badly in there.

**Heart Gears**

Rather than engage in the party, Riku slipped around and followed Aerith to her meeting hoping she hadn't noticed. Three others were in the room forming a U with a circular coffee table in front of them. The first was guy with spiky blond hair and blue eyes. The most distinctive trait on him a steam punk style shoulder guard that had a wolf design engraved on it. The second was a girl. Her hair was long and dark brown. Her breasts were a size that rivaled Simone's. The third wore a black suit, had loose blue hair, and held a drink in his hand. He winked at Aerith when she entered gaining a look of disdain from her.

Riku hid just outside keeping silent. After a few minutes with of light conversation, Weston entered the room. He gave Riku a slight jolt of electricity and shoved him into the room earning stares. "Of course he's with you." The blond said as though it were obvious.

"You knew I was there?" Riku said rubbing the point of the electric shock on his arm.

"Of course we did." The girl with dark hair said. "You're not very good at the stealth, kid."

"You knew I followed you." Riku asked looking at Aerith.

"I didn't see any reason say anything." Aerith admitted.

Aerith's word's hurt whether she wanted them to or not. Riku had just been called too insignificant to be called out for snooping.

"I have to admit, Weston." The suited one said. "You're brother throws great parties."

"Yeah, well when travel you pick up habits along the way. Take notes, Riku." Weston said taking a seat. "This is important."

"Important, yeah right." The blond said. "You're just here to brag about defeating the Skysplitter."

"Oh come on, Cloud." Weston chided. "Yes, I plan on throwing a bit of that in, but that's not my only reason for showing. I'm here to talk about what we're going to do about Maleficent. We all know the World Order's dragging its ass to avoid a panic. We all know who the first to deployed'll be. The Order's biggest cache of Wielders is right here. And who do think the choice picks are?"

"If you're trying to avoid the battlefield, you can forget it." The guy in the suit said. "We have no reason to run away. The Order knows it needs us right now so we're going to play cool and let the rewards come to us. At least that's what I'm doing."

"Neil, you know I'm not the sort that runs away from fights but, I could care less about fame and glory." Weston said calmly. "But the problem is the Order doesn't really care about us as long as the normal people are safe. That includes the weaker students who would die for sure if they saw a real battle. What happens to them when they finally mobilize? They die. The World Order gives them a medal and buries them. End of story. You willin' to let happen? I'm not."

"You're not telling us something." The girl with brown hair said.

Weston's eyes flicked to Riku for second then back to the group. "They found the seventh, Tifa. At least they'd be stupid not to have."

"She reincarnated when the last one died." Tifa said. "How'd they find her again?"

Weston discharged a burst of electricity that flooded entire room. Riku's head started to hurt slightly as the others based on their expressions. "That should've only jammed any transmitters nearby. What I'm about to say _doesn't _leave this room. The seventh never died. She's alive and is a first year student student at this Academy."

"And we're supposed to believe that?" Cloud challenged. "Care to show some proof?"

Weston pulled the gauging dice out of his pocket and rolled them creating a perfect tower, sixes up. "These were added to the entrance exam this year. Harmless on the surface, right? However, I had my sister perform a full analysis on them. What she found proved the Order knows about the seventh."

"And what did she find?" Neil asked.

"Each of these dice has a small device built in that gauges the difference between the percent of light and darkness within a person's heart. All someone has to do is pick one up and that information is sent straight to HQ." Weston returned the dice to his pocket and looked at Riku for an instant. "What I'm saying is Maleficent probably has spies in the Academy and HQ. Do you really think she won't attack here?"

"Wait a minute." Riku said out loud. All five of them looked at him casting a harsh shadow. A lumped form in Riku's that he barely forced in his words past. "Twilight Town has a barrier around it to keep the Consumed out. Shouldn't it be impossible for Maleficent lead an army here? If it's just her there's no way we can lose."

"Riku, it isn't that simple." Aerith began. "Heartless aren't the only things Maleficent has under her control. She needs direct subordinates to keep them all under her power. All of those people can enter just fine."

"Not to mention, there are ways Consumed can slip through the barrier and go undetected." Cloud added. "We occasionally get attacks here."

"There's also the problem of the Arrowgun." Tifa said. "It's one the Titans which I'm sure Weston already told you about. I haven't checked out the details, but from what I've heard it's a massive warship Heartless that manipulates space itself to travel."

"So what!" Riku challenged in anger. "Are we supposed to just stand here talking about. We should do something now right. Yen Sid. We need to tell to him right now!"

"Before you continue I'd like to ask you something." Riku's gaze turned to Neil who was grinning in a curious way. "Do care because a life is on the line, or do you care because you know whose life it is?"

Riku froze. His blood chilled at own revelation. He knew the answer. He knew exactly whose life was in danger, who would be targeted. Maggie and Weston had been feeding him clues since they met. Riku had figured it out but didn't want it to be true.

No logic could have justified Riku's next action. He charged Neil in burst fury with Way to Dawn in his hand. Neil sat as though nothing was happening. All he did was wave his hand. Then the world started turning vertically for Riku. His eyes widened. He looked down at his body, neck down, while he was in the air. The fear stopped his breathing but, air and blood traveled through him just fine. Riku could feel every muscle in his body tense as his head flew over the coffee table. Way to Dawn disappeared from his trembling hand and his face was matching. His knees gave unable to support the fear wracked form on top of their own shaking. The only thing holding up his body was his arms.

Neil caught Riku's head in one hand and took a drink from the other. His eyes were filled contempt for Riku. "Let me tell you something, boy." He spat not even bothering to look at Riku's face but rather his trembling body. "In this world, there are people who play hero. These heroes usually act on impulse, thinking some craziness like destiny will save them or 'the good guys always wins.' Sorry, but that only works in story books. In reality, to survive you have to be one step ahead of the game at all times to win. Right now we're behind. If we act, we die. Get it? Yen Sid probably knows far more about the situation than we do. He's keeping us out of it. Protecting us. But I have to agree with you. We should do something ourselves instead of waiting. But if we charge in guns blazing like you just did, well Maleficent ain't nearly as nice as I am, and that's not much to compare to."

Neil didn't bother to look when he tossed Riku's head back onto his shoulders. "Do what you want. Just don't expect any saving from me."

Riku stood still shaking. He glared at Neil who barely glanced at him. "I wouldn't want it." He spat as he stormed out the room and back into party.

Everyone else was dancing around having a "good time" while Riku was pissed. Pissed at Neil for treating him like a toy. Pissed at himself for being weak enough to allow it to happen. Pissed at Weston for allowing him to know something so important. Pissed at the World Order for putting innocents in danger. He didn't know which feelings were true and which weren't.

Riku was sure of one thing: he had to stronger. He wasn't going to made fool of by Neil or anyone else. He wouldn't let himself lose next month, even it meant dealing with Maggie that whole time who was currently making out with a girl.


	5. Instinct

**Lesson Five**

"**Instinct"**

Sora woke up early in one of the five private suits that Felix had all of his possessions moved into. It was a nice room with huge bed and a private bathroom. The renovations Felix had done while Sora was in Agrabah were nothing for Sora to complain about to say the least. There were five floors to the once small dorm room each with a variety of things to keep Sora occupied. The kitchen was fully stocked with food from across the Worlds. A weight room allowed for Sora to exercise in the morning. Sora had been somewhat cautious about everything at first but realized Felix did it for his own reasons and that he could reap the benefits.

Two days had passed since Sora had returned from Agrabah. Since the huge party, he had yet to see Felix anywhere. When he asked, he found out that up until the day of the party, Felix had been taking missions and leaving every day, bringing some of the stuff in the dorm with each time. Sora assumed Felix had all of this stuff stashed away on other Worlds but didn't want to know how he got them. The day before, he met Jorge and his crew. They were a friendly bunch or at least that's what Sora assumed. Most of them only spoke Spanish. They spent that Saturday installing an elevator making going up and down floors much faster. How they managed to get into the Academy, Sora didn't ask.

After a shower Sora rode the elevator down to the kitchen on the second floor and pulled out a box of cereal. He decided to go simple with his breakfast. Their training for tournament began that day and he didn't want to lose because of a poor diet. Weston mentioned something about puking but, Maggie said he watched too much anime when he was younger. Of course, Maggie was drunk at the time so, Sora just decided to play it safe. Froot Loops it was.

**Heart Gears**

Down the hall Riku found himself wide awake looking up at the industrial fan that had been installed some time after he went to bed last night. He knew his roommate existed and all the remodeling to the room was proof of that. Their small dorm room had become a large mechanical workshop with a loft that served as the living quarters. His roommate was a mysterious one. Riku had never seen him but, all the machine parts that had lain strewn across the floor upon his arrival proved he'd been in the room. He never bothered checking to find out his name. If the guy wanted his privacy, Riku would let him have it. Riku figured he was able to work quietly considering how he installed a fan without making a sound which was a major plus.

Climbing out of bed, Riku touched the hard metal floors and sent a jolt up his spine from cold. The guy could've sprung for carpet. The egg shaped "do-all-annoying-chores-bot" as Riku had come to call it made up for it though. Besides he hadn't put a single munny into it anyway. Why should he complain?

The robot floated up leaving white-blue streak behind it and gave Riku a glass of fresh squeezed orange juice with one of its mechanical hands. When Riku stood up the machine was already making his bed with six arms. Riku had already seen the thing go up to twenty and imagined it could do more.

Climbing down a set of metal stairs, Riku reached the main floor of the living area. A small kitchen and a high definition television occupied the space with the bathroom moved upstairs. In the back was a solid five-inch steel door with a red sign that read "enter at your own risk." He entered once the day before and decided he'd not rather do so again.

Riku sat down at the table and turned on the television to the news and saw a column of glass with captions reading: "Desert Thunderstorm Creates Art. World Order Involved?"

**Heart Gears**

Kairi clipped her bra on and begin picking out clothes for the day. Weston told her to something she wouldn't mind being ruined so she went with a pair of shorts and red t-shirt. Kairi tried to do so casually but, Shizuko was sitting right next to her on her bed and holding a katana by the blade. Shizuko ran her fingers across it checking for any nicks caused by use. The blade gleamed in the sunlight that filtered in through the window. Kairi knew the sword had been there since she saw Shizuko with it strapped to her back on the day they met.

Thinking about it, Kairi realized that there were a lot of things she didn't know about Shizuko. She seldom talked about herself and was hardly in the room. She apparently hadn't been to class since the first day and planned on leaving again at the next day. "Say, uh, should you really be holding a sword like that. It looks pretty sharp." Kairi said trying to make small talk.

"Yes, it is and I'm trying to keep it that way." Shizuko flipped the blade into the air and caught by the handle. This moved startled Kairi who ducked to safety.

"So where you get it?" Kairi asked. "They don't just give those things away."

She looked at Kairi with an absent look on her face. "He didn't just give it to me. The original owner didn't need it anymore. I don't think he would've minded. He was quite old." Shizuko stepped onto the floor without a care and said, "Don't move an inch." She slashed her blade at incredible speeds. Kairi could barely see it move but knew she had cut the wall behind their bed. Pieces of it began to fall off until the wall was nothing more than a pile of wood and wires covering the floor and beds. "Perfect."

On the other side of the ruble were Maria, Nanami, Apollo, and Pochi. "You call this perfect!" Nanami shouted. She was only wearing towels around her body and wrapping her hair to dry. "I got hit in the head thanks to you!"

"I told ya to get away the wall, Tashigi." Maria said laughing on the bed. She was in a black tank top and grey cargo pants. "Nice sword." She commented pointing at Shizuko.

"Um, hello. Wall! And my name is Nanami for the hundredth time."

"Yeah, we got more of those. Think of our room as suite now." Maria said passively. "Bet you didn't even realize we lived next door, Red."

"No, I didn't ask." Kairi replied. She'd spoken with Maria the day before about Weston. Apparently, he had recruited his other sister into helping them. "How's your little situation."

"See for yourself." Against Nanami's protests Maria stepped over the ruble and into the other room. Nanami was dragged by her right wrist across the floor and through the mess until she was next to Maria. The two were handcuffed together anytime they left their room. The problem was that Maria was far stronger than Nanami, meaning she could do as she pleased at Nanami's expense.

"Would you not do that!" Nanami shouted in a burst of fury. "I never got treated like this by anyone at home."

"Don't get mad at me 'cause daddy sent you away." Maria said lifting Nanami off the ground with ease. "I don't sympathize with you at all if haven't figured that out yet. Now then as for you…" Maria looked at Kairi then pinched her sides earning a squeal from suddenness. She continued to poke and prod Kairi's entire body with Nanami complaining the entire time and desperately hanging on to her towels. "Too low muscle tone, bones need more density, and fat going to the wrong places." She said looking at Kairi's chest. "You got a long way to go."

"Does not knowing personal space run in the family?" Kairi said clearly embarrassed.

"[Personal space? What's that?]" Apollo sneered.

"You mean there's more of them?" Nanami sounded like she was ready puke.

**Heart Gears**

By nine o'clock, all parties involved in Sora, Riku, and Kairi's training had arrived in the forest behind the Academy. Kim stood next to Weston locking arms with him. Maggie sat on a tree stump looking around the forest. She had changed the dye in her to electric blue streaks. Maria stood with Nanami still handcuffed to her wrist. Nanami had put on red sundress while they were separated in their room.

"Okay then you three." Weston said. "I've got something to talk to someone about so listen up. I'll explain once. For one week you'll be training to get the basics of your abilities down pat. The lovely ladies you see here will handle that. Except the purple haired one. She's just stuck here thanks to Aqua. Something about making her get along with Maria. Whatever. Have fun."

Weston turned around towards the Academy but Riku had a question. "What about the two weeks after that? You aren't just gonna cut us loose are you?"

Weston chuckled but didn't turn back. "If I told you that you'd run away right now." He said before disappearing in a bolt of lightning.

"So what now." Sora said looking at the four girls that they'd been left with.

Maggie hopped down off of her stump and looked at the three. "Here's the plan short and simple, all of you have something that needs to be developed in a short amount of time. For the next week we'll be split up into three groups of two. One of them will have three, however, thanks to what's-her-face."

"It's Nanami!"

"Whatever. Anyway, each group will focus on that person's skills until the week is up." Maggie finished. "The groups are: me and Riku…"

"Oh for the love of fuck…" Riku muttered.

"Kim and Kairi…" Kairi enjoyed this selection.

"That means you're with me and Tashigi, Tsuna." Maria raised her hand as well as Nanami's.

"It's Sora, actually." He corrected.

"Just give it up." Nanami said with her head lowered.

**Heart Gears**

Nanami screamed as she was dragged through the forest like a rag doll. Maria kept a steady jog to the location of Sora's training site as though she couldn't hear her roommate at all. Sora followed and covered his ears. He felt sorry for Nanami but, he didn't want to suffer with her. Pochi and Apollo tailed their owners with little effort.

"[Is that girl insane?]" Pochi asked Apollo.

"[Sanity? What's that?]" Apollo answered with a question.

"[More importantly what is that smell? It's like morning breeze scented candles only for more pungent to discomforting degrees and has other scents laced through coming in and out at random intervals. It is very unpleasant.]" Pochi complained.

"[What that?]" Apollo looked at Pochi as though he were crazy. "[It's called 'fresh forest air.' It doesn't come in candles and most people like it. Haven't you ever been on a walk before?]"

"[Of course.]" Pochi was offended by the words. "[My Walk-Master provides me with daily exercise.]"

"[I'm so breaking that thing later.]"

"We're here!" Maria said stopping at clearing in the forest. Nanami looked like she was about to puke from the jostling.

"What's so special about this place?" Sora asked seeing nothing interesting. Trees, grass, and dirt were the only things that were visible.

"There's nothin' special here at all really." Maria admitted. "It's just far away from everyone else."

"Um, okay." Sora said with slight discomfort in his voice. "Why?"

The look on Maria's face changed. Her eyes seemed to slant and the on smile become more violent in spirit. Nanami looked horrified. "The first thought you had when you saw this face was 'why does she look she's going to attack me?' Am I right?" Sora stepped back in fear of his mind being read again. "What you should've of thought was 'When and where will she attack from?' After that you should have assessed your surroundings and figured out the best places to defend.

"Problem is that in a real fight you won't have time to think. You have to rely on pure instinct to make those decisions. When two forces of equal power collide the winner is decided by who has better instincts. That's what we'll spend next week on: pounding instinct into you until you can adapt to any situation quickly. Try not to die before the week's up, Tsuna. From here until sundown I'm your enemy trying to kill you." Maria shifted her foot slightly.

"You're not serious are…" Sora words were cut by the Converse covered foot being driven into his gut. He flew through the air before landing hard on the ground clutching his stomach the whole way. Two golden bracelets with wolf charms appeared on Maria's wrists.

Nanami stood stupefied by the display of force. Had the cuffs not come undone her arm would've been yanked clean off.

Sora forced himself onto his feet and summoned the Kingdom Key into his hands. He blocked a kick with it but was swept off his feet and thrown in one quick motion. Sora pulled himself up and saw a ten meter gap between himself and Maria. The distance was closed in an instant resulting in Sora received another kick to the gut and being punted into the forest.

Maria was prepared to chase but stopped by Nanami. "Are you crazy! You'll kill him using moves like those!"

Maria turned and looked at Nanami. The air around shriveled with light blue aura. Emerging from that aura, a massive skeletal wolf covered with black plates of armor. What little courage Nanami had mustered melted away in an instant. Her legs gave out under the pressure of having that beast stare her down. Pochi walked over and tried to provide some support but, to no avail. It had finally hit Nanami: Maria could kill her at any time. "If don't have the resolution to face my Projection don't spout bullshit like that off."

The wolf vanished to the nothingness it came from and, Maria turned toward forest to face Sora. Four flaming Keyblades responded earning a look of surprise on her face. She held out her hand and created a honeycomb like barrier around herself. Upon contact, the Keyblades' trajectory reversed completely sending them back at Sora. The trees ignited starting a forest fire.

Sora rushed out of the blaze Keyblade in hand attacking Maria full force. She sidestepped grabbing Sora by shoulder and sending a knee into his chin. Sora was knocked into air and rose a good fifteen meters before reaching the apex. The blood that exited his mouth flew a bit higher.

Maria held up her hand and pointed at Sora. A magenta orb appeared then turned pure, empty black. A small white beam was released towards Sora. Then something clicked in Sora. He didn't quite understand how but, he knew it would it work. He held his hand out and with minimum effort produced a honeycomb shaped barrier.

Maria's beam reflected off of the barrier and went straight back at her. She jumped, landed next to Nanami and Pochi, and pulled them away from the explosion created at point where beam struck the ground.

As Sora landed, his legs were rattled by the impact. Sora at looked at his in wonder. He was sure had never seen that spell until a moment a go.

"Roll next time you take hard fall!" Maria's kick reached Sora before the advice. He was launched across the clearing to the side opposite the fire. Sora crashed into a tree that creaked from the impact. He realized that taking a knee meant death so he didn't, forcing himself to stay on his feet. From his spot he could rain clouds form over the fire and pour rain dousing the flames.

The tree behind him met its end when Sora side stepped to avoid a kick from Maria. It splintered and fell over only to have its trunk caught by Maria while Sora sprinted toward the dying fire. The trunk was thrown easily across the clearing. Sora jumped, rolled across the top, and landed on his feet.

Sora ducked managing to avoid another kick. Maria's hand glowed magenta and, she performed a hand stand in mid-air. She flipped and delivered a knee to Sora's face. Sora crashed into and flipped over the stilled trunk jumping back over when Maria attempted to stomp his face into ground.

Sora stood on his feet but barely wanted to move. He could see Maria with calm but murderous look on her face glaring at him. Fear was boiling inside of him even more so than the anger of being made a fool of. The look in her eyes told Sora one thing: she going to kill him.

What brought Sora more fear was the mistake he made when compared himself to her. Dirt covered his clothes and blood trickled from his mouth. The only dirt on Maria was on her shoes and the blood was Sora's. Maria had every advantage. Her body was in excellent shape. Her arms were toned and her abs left a clear impression through her tank top. She was focused on the fight completely. The one thing Sora realized the most was the difference in their experience. Maria had seen battle countless times. That's when Sora understood. Felix had just as much as she did.

**Heart Gears**

"Living refractor?" Riku said as he watched an explosion in the forest. He and Maggie had hiked up to a cliff that gave them a view of the forest and the Academy. The tower that served as the administrative building faced away from them and a waterfall to the forest's stream was to the east.

"Yep," Maggie affirmed sitting cross legged on the grass. "Maria calls them Apollo's Fangs. By combining their power with Vector she can bend, trap, compress, and reflect light at will. If she wants to she can even use Hard Light to create platforms and a sword for battle. A real life case of Light 'Em Up. Pretty cool, huh?"

"I guess…" Riku was slightly worried about Sora. If Maria was anything like Felix, he was in trouble. "So, are you just gonna sit there or are we gonna get started." Riku summoned Way to Dawn which only made Maggie giggle. "What's so funny?"

"Riku, if we were just gonna pound this into you three, there'd have been no point in splitting up. Sit down. Get comfy. It's a nice day. No one's goin' anywhere yet." Riku hesitantly sat down in front of her setting his Keyblade in the grass. "I'm going to explain to you as simply as possible so listen up. As I'm sure the sexy hunk of man called Sir Auron has explained to you, there are two types of raw magical energy, light and darkness. Most people have light _and_ darkness in their heart, the only exceptions being the Seven Princesses of Light and Seven Princesses of Darkness. It's also true that most people have a dominate type. If you live the Realm of Light it's more likely to be light due to constant exposure and vice versa. For example I was born in the Realm of Darkness so I have more darkness in me.

"However, there are cases where this isn't true. For some reason the light and darkness in your heart are balanced perfectly. What this means is that you can use both dark magic and light magic in conjunction with each other, also known as dawn magic. See your problem is that you only try to use light. Probably because you didn't know about your inner darkness."

"And just do you know about it?" Riku cut in once again feeling like his privacy had been invaded. Deep down he had known it was there, but didn't want run the risk of using it.

"I may have hacked into the school's computer where they keep crap like that on file. But I'm not saying I did. I'm saying it's a possibility" Maggie said in a playful tone. "It's really not that important. The point is that your training, rather than actual combat, will be focusing on channeling both the light and darkness. Without the internal conflict your powers should increase dramatically."

Riku looked out the forest where Sora was then back at Maggie. "Will I be able win, guaranteed?"

"Riku, I won't make promises, I won't give you guarantees." Her tone significantly different than the one she used on a regular basis. "My abilities allow me interface and analyze on the hardware and level of super computers. Believe it or not, my IQ is over two-hundred. But there are things even I can't be sure about. I can beat a computer at chess. I can predict the most likely, intelligent actions and course of events but, I'm almost never right. The simple fact is humans are far too illogical to try to predict their actions without being able see the future. When someone throws a punch at another person, I know the best way to dodge or counter considering every factor from the momentum behind the fist to way the wind is blowing. But, I don't know the other person's heart. What their instinct will tell them to do is a mystery too. How their heart will command them, hell if I know."

Maggie paused for moment thinking about the situation as whole running through possibilities and knowing full well that she couldn't see all of them. "Felix isn't just gonna sit around let you have a Training Montage for the next three weeks. He's training and making himself even stronger than before. That's how he got so strong in the first place. Why would he change?

"So no, you aren't guaranteed to win no matter what you do. Just wanted to make sure we're clear on that."

Riku didn't speak for moment. That was first time he'd ever heard Maggie be remotely serious. He figured that there was more to her than she had shown up until then but, she had proven to rather insightful in the matter. "So, uh, what kind of training will I be doing?"

"Channeling your magical energy through meditation. What you're going to spend this week doing is learning how to draw out both your light and dark energy in equilibrium. By doing this you should be able to gain access to powers that would impossible otherwise." Maggie explained.

"Why do you keep saying 'should'?" Riku asked. "Is going to work or not."

"I may be goin' off information I stole when I _possibly_ hacked into the schools computer. So I'm not sure." Maggie admitted. "But it's about as good a chance as any. Just watch and repeat." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath in. Her body clothes and hair began to rise slightly and weak breeze was centered around her. Darkness pooled on the ground. It rose in rings and shrunk back in when it reached her head. "Your goal is to make the ring take on light and dark energy." She said keeping her eyes closed and the energy flowing.

"And how will I know that?"

"You just will, alright. Let your instinct tell you."

Riku sneered then closed his eyes. He wasn't quite sure how he was supposed to make his magical energy just come out. He breathed in a slow, steady pace trying to concentrate on both light and darkness at the same. His nose proved to an ample distraction, however. Since they'd returned from Agrabah, Riku's sense of smell had changed. Not only was he picking up more chemicals in the air but also people's hearts. He figured it was same as Jake's abilities to hear the "songs" of peoples' hearts. He had managed to turn it off when he was awake but, with his eyes closed he couldn't ignore it.

Maggie's breasts being pressed against his back didn't help either. Riku's eyes shot open and saw Maggie arms wrapped around his waist. Riku turned his head to see Maggie looking up at him and nuzzling his back. "Why?"

"Well, duh." Maggie said. "For starters I kinda like you, Riku. But that really doesn't make you feel better, does it? Second, in battle do honestly think you'll have time to think about doing this. Eventually you'll have to make it an instinct. If we combine it with that 'smell' of yours there's no telling what you could do."

"So breasts to my back will help me concentrate?"

"Actually my boobs aren't touching you at all." Maggie said. Suddenly she was in front of Riku with her left index finger pressed against his forehead. They were now sitting on a rock. Lava and incinerated dinosaurs were still around him along with a teenage girl still around his waist. Or at least the feeling of a teenage girl. Riku could feel her chest and body heat but he couldn't see her at all. "Nerve interface. It lets me see and control a person's peripheral and central nervous systems. I can even overwrite and possess normal people's minds."

"And just what constitutes your definition a normal person." It wasn't until after he asked that Riku realized that Maggie knew the question before it ever reached his lips.

"Riku, face it. We Wielders will never be normal. That's something you'd better learn to live with."

**Heart Gears**

"And that's the story of how me Weston started dating." Kim said pleasantly as she and Kairi arrived at the stream inside the forest.

"Okay…" Was Kairi's only response. It hadn't been _bad_ story. But wasn't a good story either. It was strange. It was the kind of strange that she expected out of a guy like Weston. Some parts made absolutely no sense. The part about Aerith being dressed like a clown was great example. All in all, it was story Kairi would rather not have heard ever again…for all of time.

Kim stepped onto the water and bobbed up and down with the flow. Kairi looked at amazement as she didn't sink. "Alright listen up cause we only have time for one explanation today." Kim said as Platinum Fizz appeared in her. "Magic can be divided into all sorts of categories, similar to how organisms can be divided by species. The most basic split is light and darkness but it gets far more complicated as you go down the line and eventually you get to a particular spell. What I'm going to teach is the breakdown of water element spells.

"First of all, elements have two sides to them: the Creation side and the Destruction side. As their names imply the Creation side has peaceful and gentle points to a certain element while the Destruction has the power and forceful points. Compare a gentle spring breeze to a tornado. Both are of the Wind element but while the breeze usually brings a sense of calming, a tornado will destroy almost anything in its path. Like light and darkness, both sides are meaningless without the other and as such a person needs to master both to use that element to its fullest potential."

Kim waved the Platinum Fizz commanding water from the stream to scoop a large rock and toss it straight at her. With a flick of the wrist and a spike of water spike pierced through the rock and suspended it in the air. More spikes jabbed out of the rock and shattered it. Kim maintained a calm look the entire time while.

"Water needs the Creation point called surface tension and maintain to form a shape like this and the Destruction point called pressure to have any attack power. If I lacked Creation, it would've been a burst of water without any way to stop the rock. If I lacked Destruction, there would've been no force to pierce the rock."

"So I need both to use more powerful attacks." Kairi attempted to summarize.

"Yes, but there's more to fighting than that. For example." Kim bent down and touch her hand on the water's surface. She stood back up and held an orb of water in her hand. The orb was gingerly tossed over to Kairi were it took to form of a thin, double bladed sword. It then shifted into a small shield. "Creation for shape and Destruction for strength. That's how elemental abilities work." The shield fell onto the ground leaving Kairi's hand wet.

"We'll start with Creation. I recommend taking your shoes off." Kairi did as she was told and set her shoes down on a rock. "Alright, hopefully teaching you to walk on water won't take a whole week, otherwise you're screwed. What you have to do focus you magical energy on the bonds between the water molecules under your feet."

"That sounds impossible." Kairi admitted.

Kim chuckled. "Believe me. That's the _easy_ part." Kairi hesitantly stuck her left foot out onto the water testing its temperature with her toes. She lived on an island and the water was shallow, a foot deep at the most. This shouldn't be too difficult. Concentrating her magic to the water she touched her foot down. The water beneath her stiffened immediately and was dragged by the current bringing Kairi's left leg with it. Kairi made a desperate attempt to regain balance but still fell face first in the stream.

Kairi sat up soaking wet with water dripping from her red hair and face. She compared her own graceful movements to Kim's and noticed what she'd done wrong immediately. The water was still flowing underneath Kim's feet. Kairi had attempted to make the water near solid. What she had underneath her got carried away by the current.

"Don't worry." Kim reassured as Kairi made her way to shore. "It took me three days just to make it that far. Word of advice, put both feet out when you're first trying."

**Heart Gears**

"No." Auron told Weston harshly. They were in Auron's classroom. Namarrkun sat on the desk while Auron and Weston stood in front. "You've got enough things on your plate right to be worrying about Maleficent let alone fighting her."

"Are you kiddin' me!?" Weston shouted. "You and I both know damn well we need all the power we can get. You said it yourself I can still get stronger. Why the hell won't you teach me now!?"

"It's exactly as you said. We need all the power we can get." Auron said. "You need to focus on tapping into those three's power right now. You called that power out of yourself in Agrabah because your life was in danger. I'll teach you how to use it properly but, not until you complete your current obligation. Got it?"

Weston turned around and walked toward. He held out his hand letting Namarrkun climb up to his shoulder. "Fine." Weston submitted. "I'll hold you to that." He jumped into a power outlet.

Sir Auron sat in his chair satisfied with situation. He saw great potential in 512th class of the Academy. However, something disturbed him that being the comparison between Sora and Felix. Sora contained an air of destiny around him. It was clear he was meant for a great purpose. Felix on the other hand, Auron couldn't quite peg him down as anything. It was as though he wasn't even meant to be there. A destined boy and a wild teenager: who would win, Auron had no way of knowing.

**Heart Gears**

The sun was sinking below horizon by the time everyone returned. Kairi and Kim arrived first, Kairi being wrapped in a towel. Riku and Maggie showed up minutes later from their cliff. Maria came with the downcast Nanami in tote. The handcuffs had reappeared binding the two back together. Sora was being carried in Maria's other hand by his belt. Kairi was horrified by his appearance. His face and arms were smeared with blood. His clothes had been torn apart and stained red.

His eyes, however, were open and filled frustration. He hadn't stood a chance. There wasn't scratch on Maria and the only blood his own on her shoes. Every move he made was countered as though he was a fly. She even started to look bored after a while. Sora couldn't help but to wonder where that kind of strength came from, what she had to put herself through physically and mentally.

"Well, here you go." Maria said handing Sora to Riku who put his friend on his back. "I healed most of the wounds already. He's just sore. See ya tomorrow. I'm starving." She jumped into the air over the administrative tower using her light platforms to leap over it.

Kairi gritted her teeth wishing she could give Maria piece of her mind for beating Sora to such a degree. Then she remembered that she lived one door down. She was about to leave when Sora, standing on his own, got in her way. Though heavily injured, his eyes carried a determination that kept Kairi silent.


	6. Stratosphere

**Lesson Six**

"**Stratosphere"**

Get some rest. That's what Kairi had been told to do that Saturday. She figured that it was to prepare for Maggie's so called "Special Serving." The thought scared her almost as much as Maggie herself. To calm her self induced nerves, Kairi decided to take a walk in the forest behind the school. She didn't care that it was still morning. That made it all the more peaceful. The sound of birds filled the air.

Soon, she found herself unconsciously walking towards the stream that she and Kim had been practicing at. Kairi avoided looking at a blood stained rock she had hit her head on early that week and enjoyed the more tranquil points of her spot. She sat at the bank to look up at light of dawn and listen to the stream. The gurgling sound of moving water had become a favorite Kairi's as the week had dredged on.

A loud "Good Mor~nin'!" interrupted the peace of mind Kairi had found.

Flying down from the direction of the waterfall came Felix on the air leaving a magenta streak in the sky behind him. It was the first time in two weeks that Kairi had seen him without his chest exposed, though she admitted to herself that was a slight disappointment. Felix had on black t-shirt and shorts rather than his vest. Kairi noticed that both of his hands were wrapped in white medical tape that was slightly stained with blood.

He descended to just over the surface of the water and leaned his torso turning to Kairi's bank. Huginn landed on his shoulder once he set foot on land. "What's up, Ginger?" The crow cawed.

"You can _fly_?" Kairi said ignoring Huginn.

"Among many, many other things." Felix replied with a smug tone in his voice. "Maggie can teleport, Weston can turn into lightning, it's no big deal really."

"Teleport, yeah right..." Kairi scoffed having never seen such a feat. "Do you want something or, are you just here to bug me? I'd like some peace and quiet if you don't mind."

"What, I'm not allowed to enjoy the school ground. I'm a student here too y'know."

"True, but you're also an ass."

"And you're a fine piece of one."

Kairi didn't respond verbally. She simply waved her hand summoning a spout of water from the stream. Felix didn't look but, simply stepped aside letting the water fly into Kairi's face. "I meant that as a compliment. Also, ya might wanna work on usin' magic without hand motions. Much more difficult to predict."

Gritting her teeth, her shirt and hair soaked, Kairi felt the urge to stalk away but, resisted, refusing to give out that satisfaction. She stood and attempted to slap him, but her wrist was caught by a bandaged left hand less than eighth of the way across the arc. "Too slow, caw!" Huginn taunted as Kairi wretched around in Felix's grip.

"Let go of me!" Kairi demanded unable to free herself. Felix chuckled but let go.

"Sheesh, don't start shit if you aren't ready for someone to retaliate." He said readjusting the tape on his hand. "'Round here, some people's first response is to put a knife to your throat. Your roommate for example. Yeah, nearly got my head cut off over asking for the time of day."

"Something tells me Shizuko wouldn't lose her cool so easily." Kairi said.

"Who said she lost her cool? The spikes on my Storm Breakers made her feel threatened. Fortunately for me, I managed to get out of the way right before it hit my jugular. Close call." Felix recalled.

"So what? You're scared of Shizuko now. I thought you were some kind of tough guy."

"Tough guy? Is that what you see me as? Oh man, have you got me wrong." Felix said actually surprised. "Win, lose; right, wrong; good, bad; to hell with things like that. I just enjoy fighting. Why do think I joined this Academy in the first place? Auron's a chill guy and all but, I can get stronger on my own. No, I joined because there's a storm brewin' right now and, I don't wanna miss it."

"Please. It's pretty obvious to me you don't care about the World Order or people or anything. You're a selfish and unpredictable person with no regard your own or anyone else's safety. You ignore how your actions affect other people and leave your messes behind. I don't even need to know you that well to say that much. And more importantly there's no way you'll win the tournament."

"Well, that's just plain harsh, but true for the most part. The Order doesn't really care how much damage I cause or how many people get killed along the way as long I get the job done. It's same way they do everything and, it suits me just fine. But, ya left one little detail out."

"That being?"

"I value my freedom. Working for Maleficent would mean selling my soul for good. And be honest here. Would you rather fight with me or against me?"

"Which ends with me never having to see you again?"

"Good one, Princess." Felix paused for a second with a puzzled look on his face. "Why the hell did I call ya that?"

"Another stupid attempt to flirt with me." Kairi spat.

"Maybe." Felix grinned. "I suppose askin' ya out would be pushing my luck at this point."

"The chances of that happening are even worse than your chances of winning."

"And if that weren't the case? I mean if those chances were even?"

"If they were?"

Felix rubbed his right hand on his chin and looked at Kairi. "How's about you and I make little bet. I win you owe me a date. I don't win we pretend this little conversation never happened. Do we have a bet or not?"

Fury was the only word Kairi could use to describe the burning feeling in her gut and cheeks. She looked at the bandaged, outstretched hand and shook it harshly. "There's no way we'll lose to you. Got that?"

Felix hopped onto the river, floating just above the water with his feet glowing magenta. "That wasn't part of the bet." He said as he was carried downstream with Huginn flying after him.

Kairi stood there fists balled, cooling her head for a few minutes. She breathed slowly listening to the stream of flowing water and assessed the situation. Her peaceful Saturday morning walk had been ruined by Felix and Huginn. And now she'd made a bet with him. "Crap…"

**Heart Gears**

Room 117 of the first year girls' dorm, that's where Margret Hunter made her home at. Riku stood outside the door and looked at the name plate with contempt mixed appreciation. Maggie was insane and perverted. But, Riku couldn't argue that he'd grown stronger thanks to her. On top of that he wanted information about the Princesses of Heart. Who else could he ask besides faculty that would want to know why? The last thing he wanted was people questioning his actions.

Riku raised his arm to knock dreading to hear Maggie's voice. Before he brought his fist to the door everything around him vanished. The door, the wall, his hand; all of them disappeared. Everything was black. The only thing Riku was sure was his own consciousness. Part of him hoped that this was the part where he woke up and found out that the past two weeks of his life had just been a dream.

Riku's arm reappeared still in position to knock on the door. He put his arm to his chest patting himself down; making sure everything was in place. Every part of his body tingled continuously as he inspected himself.

Realizing all of his body parts were accounted for, Riku finally noticed how cold the dark little room he stood in was. The only light came from the five computer monitors, one of which had video feed of the hallway he had been standing in seconds earlier streaming live, creating a silhouette of Maggie rapidly tapping at the keyboard. Shelves filled with processors and hard drives lined two of the walls with massive air conditioners on the ceiling.

"So, how ya feelin'?" Maggie asked without turning away from center screen.

"Like I've been ripped apart then thrown back together in a super villain's lair." Riku said rubbing his hands together. "Why's it so cold in here and what are you doing that's so important that you can't face my direction?"

"Do you realize what would happen if all these processors got too hot? On top of that, my blood would be boiling otherwise." Maggie replied still focused on her work. "And if you must know, have you seen those commercials with the guys who say they can protect your identity?"

"Yeah, but seeing as my parents don't use credit cards, we never really paid them any mind."

"I now have taken control two of those peoples' credit card accounts. They are now ordering each other 999 super-sized dildos, a life-time subscription to Playgirl magazine, and a little something for me."

"I'm just going to assume that's illegal…and confirm that it's disturbing."

"[Don't forget disgusting, perverted, and creepy]" Ratatoskr added.

"Yep, that about sums it up, rodent comments aside." Maggie finished her task at that moment and turned around in her chair. With the only light coming from the monitors, Riku couldn't make out much more than the places where clothes stopped and skin began. He could tell that Maggie wasn't wearing her glasses, though. "So, to what do I owe the visit?"

"I'll just cut to the chase. The Princesses of Heart, I want all the information you have on them. Plain and simple."

Maggie rested her elbow on the chair's armrest and her head on hand. "Kairi: Twilight Town; Alice: Wonderland; Jasmine: Agrabah; Snow White: Dwarf Woodlands; Belle: status unknown; Cinderella: Castle of Dreams; Aurora: status unknown; Kyarameru: Gourmet World; Victoria: Amestris; Angelica: Five Blues; Candice: Earth Land; Keiko: recently deceased; Rei: Soul Society; Jacqueline: The World Order Maximum Security Prison.

"That plus the bits Weston told you in the Cave of Wonders is all I know."

"That's it?" Riku questioned. "No history, no elaborate legends, no secret powers."

"They probably exist, but I don't know a damn thing about 'em. And believe me when I say I've looked."

"Can't you just hack into World Order and get information. And don't even try to say it's against the law. It's pretty obvious you don't care."

"I can and have but it's not as simple as cracking, there's a difference by way, into some schmucks' credit card accounts." Maggie began. "See, the Order's digital security system is layered into ten levels. Each level increases security and personnel exponentially from the last. On top of that you have to get through each level to get to next. This is true until level ten. I can get through one to three on my own and the rest with help. Ten on the other hand is a different issue all together. Level ten isn't connected to any wireless networks at all. No printers, no Wi-Fi, nothin'. When they want to transfer data from it, they take a USB drive put the data on there, then put it into whatever they want it on. No outside contact whatsoever."

"So it's impossible to get in without actually being at the computer."

"Which would require me breaking into the World Order HQ. You wanna help me out with that? I think not."

"Well, so much for your help." Riku turned around and faced a black wall. He did a double take and realized that there were no doors. "Please let me out."

"Riku, Riku, Riku…Riku." Maggie said wagging her finger. "The information I just gave you was worth 100,000,000 munny on the black market. Top secret classified shit, y'know." Riku turned back slowly to see a devilish, closed lip smile on Maggie's face. "Do really think I'd just give it to you for free."

"So, what do want?" Riku asked hesitantly. He didn't like his situation at all. In an attempt to get his bearings he'd used his sense of smell, but nothing came up. He had no idea where he was or how to escape. He also didn't have 100,000,000 munny at his disposal.

"The only way to escape this room is through the air ducts. But as long as I know where you are you can't escape me."

"Anyone could call that bluff."

"What bluff?" Maggie snapped her fingers.

Once again the world vanished. When it reappeared it was white. The only thing Riku was sure of was that gravity's cruel tug was pulling him downward until he broke free of the cloud cover. Below him he could see Twilight Town. For a moment he simply screamed in terror of death. Soon, the cause of his situation was brought to the forefront of his mind. "Bitch! If I survive this I'm killing her!" He shouted as his rage overtook his fear for a moment. When his fear returned it brought the danger to his life even harder than before.

"Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, oh shit!" He stammered to himself as the blistering cold air passed his skin. "Calm down! Gotta stay calm! Sure I'm plummeting a good four kilometers, but I gotta stay calm." He told himself. "Okay, Margret Hunter is an annoying, insane, evil, perverted, bisexual bitch but, she had to have taught you something useful! Right! Think, damn it!"

It took Riku about thirty seconds to go through the week and realize that all he'd learned was to call on his dawn magic not what to do with it. "Okay, think. What spells could I use to slow myself down?" Riku ran through every spell he knew trying come up with a plan. "Don't know any wind magic, water won't help, and earth will only make things worse. Fire! Rockets use fire; I have fire!" Riku made a slight whimpering sound. "But where can I get that much power!" He looked at ground as it closed in even faster than before. "Terminal velocity now. Gotta wing it."

If there was one thing dealing with Maggie for a week had taught Riku, it was to clear his thoughts and concentrate. He closed his eyes pushing the feeling of falling to the back of his mind. The choking sensation of fear released its grasp on his throat. His breathing calmed and the tenseness he felt in his muscles faded. He could feel them, light and darkness, coursing through his body. They welled up through his chest and spread through his body evenly. Riku took a great deal of the power he had and sent it all to his right hand.

Riku held his palm downward and faced the town below. He opened his eyes and saw that the town had grown since he'd closed them. By his estimation, he had about forty-five seconds before his impending impact. "Gotta time this just right." He mumbled.

Time seemed to move much slower than it had ever before. The sound of his own heart blasted Riku's ears, harshly reminding him that he was still alive. The town got closer and people became visible. Riku hoped that none would be in the way if his idea worked.

Finally the moment came. He wasn't sure how he knew; he just did. Grayish-blue flames fell from Riku hand striking and heating the brick pavement of the plaza. Riku felt his descent slow drastically until he was hovering ten meters in the air. Air raise rose from the flames heating Riku body. "This is incredible." He said amazed by his own power. "Now I get to burn Maggie to a crisp."

After a few more seconds, the flames died down, gently lowering Riku to the ground. "DAMMIT…wait, you're not Weston." A man next to a burnt up cart shouted. Riku ignored him still trying to get a grasp on his own power. For a moment he simply stared at his palm. He could still feel the warmth of the fire in his palm and a slight gray glow was visible.

"Hey kid." The man whose cart had been destroyed was standing next to Riku. He was elderly black man with grayed hair and brown eyes. The green apron he was wearing was slightly singed.

"Oh," Riku said noticing the cart. "Uh, sorry about…"

"Don't worry about it. That cart's just a decoy to protect my real goods." The man explained. "Y'know, it's been almost twenty years since the last dawn user graduated from the Academy. Can't say _that_ ever happened but, he was one hell'uv a guy."

"You can tell it was dawn magic?"

"Just 'cause I don't have any of your fancy powers, doesn't mean I don't have the six sense. It's something you pick up on after twenty years or so. I can tell you personally, that's one hell'uv a punch you're packing."

"I just want enough power to protect the people I love. That's all I'm interested in." Riku admitted.

The man shrugged his shoulders and glanced away. "Hate to tell you this, but with the way the world lookin' right now, you're gonna need a lot more."

"Then I'll get even more." Riku replied getting a smile from the old man. "Uh, I'm Riku by the way."

"The name's…" The man was cut off. Riku quickly realized he'd been teleported again. This time he wasn't going to chat.

When the computer room reappeared Riku sent as much power as he could muster into his right hand. Maggie looked nothing but amused. She vanished from Riku's sight in an instant before he could feel her hand passing through his chest. He looked down and saw her hand stick out where his heart would be.

"Wow, Riku, you were seriously gonna try to kill me right there." Maggie whispered into his ear. Her free hand was wrapped his body and stroking his cheek. "That's cute. But, what can I expect. It's due retaliation. Wasn't exactly expectin' you to pull somethin' like that. I'm impressed. Try it again and I might just stick you in a wall though. It's not as entertaining but, more effective."

Riku body shuttered as he felt Maggie's hand slide down his torso. Riku smiled though. "You know what I'm thinking so stop trying to be dramatic about it."

"Hmm, destroying my computer would be problem but, you know it's bye-bye to heart if you try that." Maggie had reached his belt. "Seeing as we've reached a stalemate, why don't we just stop with the death threats and talk like civilized people."

"I'm amazed 'civilized' is in your vocabulary." Riku said relaxing his arm slightly. Maggie walked through him resulting in an involuntary shutter. "I take it that this is about the information you gave me."

"Oh, would you chill out. No need to get defensive." Maggie said flopping into her chair.

"Bullshit."

"Anyway, let's talk business. You could pay me, which would take years on your budget, or you could help me with something."

Riku hesitated for a second. "Depends on what that something is."

Maggie clapped her hands twice and beams from various locations in the room shot into a central point in between Maggie and Riku forming a holographic screen. "WOA blueprints: library building." After a short loading screen, 3D blueprints of the library along with a menu for more details appeared. "I'm gonna make this short so listen up. The library has ten floors. The top three floors require security clearance which only teachers a few select students have. The roof, however, is public. Now, Riku, take a very good look at the stairs leading to the roof."

Riku stared at the hologram for a minute but, saw only one oddity. "The stairway between top floor and the roof is really long. As in big enough for an entire floor to fit in there. Are you telling you think there's a secret floor in the library?"

"Display security." Maggie said. In response the hologram showed surveillance cameras, spells guarding the library, and the current location of the librarian. Maggie stood up and pointed to a small point on the roof. "This is the _only _blind spot in the entire building as in the one place I have no way of seeing from here."

"And you think there's a _secret_ entrance to your _secret_ floor there that you want to use the Keyblade to unlock." Riku couldn't help but to chuckle.

"Well I do have of the footage librarian going into that blind spot then coming out an hour later and, according to his file, he's an agent working for the World Order."

Riku chuckled again. "Okay, for the sake of argument, let's assume you're right. How has no one else, out of all the students here and that have gone through this Academy over the course of over five-hundred years, noticed this."

"A Wizard Did It."

"And this is the only school where that's a sound argument." Riku said pinching the bridge of his nose. "So if I help you look into it, whether we find something or not, we're square."

"That's the deal."

"I'll hold you to it." Riku said looking at the hologram.

"Don't worry. If I'm anything, I'm a gal of my word." Maggie put on her glasses and snapped her finger but right before they vanished she said, "And of big tits in case you forgot."

"Is it too late to work out a payment plan?"

**Heart Gears**

"I'm bored." Sora said walking along the cobblestone path with his hands folded behind his head. "Riku's missing, Kairi said she wanted to be alone right now, Weston's busy, and I don't wanna talk to Maggie. Gotta find something to do."

Sora continued following the path heading towards the library until he saw a crowd of student and a few teachers standing in a circle. Curiosity aroused, Sora walked over to see what the commotion was about. After pushing his way through the crowd, what he found wasn't surprising. Simone stood alone against five male students who took up twice as much space as she did each. Part of Sora told him to intervene. The part that won told him it would be pointless.

"Are all combatants ready?" A teacher who Sora didn't recognize asked.

"Last chance to quit girly!" The apparent leader shouted.

"Last chance to kiss your nuts good-bye." Simone bit back.

"I'll just take that as a yes." The teacher said. "Begin!"

All the males summon their Gear immediately. Two had swords, one had a chain with a blade at the end, one had a gun, and the leader had bronze knuckles.

Simone giggled.

"What is she doing?" Sora asked.

"Saving her energy." Sora looked over and saw Ienzo standing next to him.

"Aw, she's scared." The one with the chain said. His cohorts laughed. "Wake up!" He threw his chain at Simone full force. She calmly caught the chain inches before it reached her head. "Nice reflexes." The chain Wielder said. He yanked on the chain hoping to pull it back and Simone with it but, neither moved a millimeter. "What the hell?" He said as he continued to pull.

A smile appeared on Simone's face. At first she chuckled but then her voice erupted laughter into a sinister that sent chills through Sora's spine. An ominous green aura appeared around her and took the form of a pale green horse with an armored knight riding it. The helmet of the knight had two lights in it. The knight and the horse glared down at the boys, though their oppressive size was more than enough to scare them into trembling.

Sora felt air chill around him. He gritted his teeth as death stared down the five who'd challenged Simone. He turned to see Ienzo's reaction only to find that he had none.

"What the hell are we doing!? It's just a shitty illusion!" The one with the gun said even though he was visibly trembling. He fired even with his shaky hands. Simone yanked on the chain pulling the Wielder in front of her to take the yellow orb that had been fired in the back.

Simone grabbed the chain Wielder by his throat and threw him at the gunman holding her grip on the chain. The gunman dodged but, Simone altered the course of the chain swinging the Wielder towards his other comrades. The others backed up and Simone yanked once again pulling the Wielder back to herself. This time, however, she threw a punch with her free hand that landed square on her opponent's nose. The chain disappeared as the Wielder fell with his nose broken and his blood flowing down his face.

"Who's next?" Simone asked licking the blood off of her knuckles.

"You fuckin' bitch!" One of the sword Wielders shouted in rage. The other followed his charge to the amusement of Simone. The first swung in a wide arc but missed by a mile. The second made his own attempt but had his legs swept from underneath him. Simone grabbed the first swordsman's wrist as he attempted another swing. She flicked her own wrist breaking her opponent's who dropped to his knees in pain. Simone proceeded to knee him in the head knocking him out. She turned her knee into a kick striking the other in the head as well. Sora could only guess that his slack jaw was dislocated or broken.

"Yawn." Simone said with her hand at her mouth. A gun shot was fired that Simone dodged easily.

"She can dodge bullets!" Sora said in amazement.

"If you can't, you should forfeit now." Ienzo said calmly.

In the instant Sora turned away to look at Ienzo, Simone had closed the distance between herself and the gun Wielder. She delivered a strike to the gut causing him to double over and caught him on her knee. She drove her elbow into his ribs breaking them on impact and left him on the ground.

The last one standing staggered back a bit, legs shaking uncontrollably. "H-hey, come on. We were just kidding. I didn't mea-…" Simone's hand was around his throat restricting air.

"Should've said good-bye when you had the chance." Then she dropped him letting his crotch land on her knee. All males presented reflexively cringed as the knuckle Wielder fell to his knees. "Good-bye."

Sora went pale at the sight of Simone's next action. Everyone who wasn't a teacher or Ienzo had the same reaction. They watched in horror as blood spilled onto the ground stained the green grass red. Simone only wore a slight smile. She pulled on her scythe to remove it from her opponent's torso and caused more to flow out. The Wielder put hands over the wound trembling at the sight of the fluid before he finally passed out.

Simone dismissed her HG and put her hands in her pocket. She walked away from the sight with the crowd parting for her. Her path brought her right next to Sora at whom she glanced at. The look sent chills down Sora's spine. After witnessing something like that the only thing that could have made scarier was the fact the word "DEATH" was written in both of her eyes.

Sora watched as she walked away with Ienzo in tow. He stood in place as the crowd dispersed. Then Dr. Jhevari appeared pushing a stretcher and shoved Sora out the way. Aerith followed her but was much more polite when she ran through the crowd. By the time Aerith had arrived Dr. Jhevari had already taken control of the situation and kneeling next to the victim of Simone's scythe. "Aerith, make sure the one with the broken nose can breathe then get to work on that jaw!" She shouted. "I'll take of him."

Dr. Jhevari went straight to work on the boy. She ripped his apart exposing the wound and rubbed a liquid around it that Sora assumed to prevent infection. The boy awoke in response to the stinging the liquid brought was quieted by an anesthetic he was injected with. After she put the liquid onto his back, Dr. Jhevari enveloped her hands in a bright green energy. She passed them over his back closing the wound then gently laid him down. She held both hands over the patient and formed a bright orb in between them. The orb sank into the boy and the Doctor remained completely still.

"Amazing, isn't she?" Sora turned around and saw Kim holding two brown paper bags filled with groceries. "Here hold this." She handed Sora a bag. "I'm going to assume _this _is what Simone looked so smug about."

"Yeah." Sora said still staring at Dr. Jhevari. "What's her problem? Those guys look like jerks but…"

"Who knows? Simone's been living with Dr. Jhevari since before I got here. Rumor has it they found her wondering around in the graveyard one day talking to ghosts without any real memories. Ghosts are real by the way. Most people just can't see them. Anyway, both of them are scythe Wielders so the Doctor thought she could teach her. It worked but, Simone's just a bit…"

"Bipolar."

"Trust me. If was something you could take a pill for, it would've been taken care of a _long _time ago."

**Heart Gears**

"I'm sick of him." Kairi said to Aqua. She had returned to the dorm and found herself grumbling until Aqua asked her what was wrong. That led to a five minute rant about the situation and her frustrations with Felix's attitude. "How can a guy I've only talked to like four times piss me off so much?"

"Some things just run in the family." Aqua replied thinking about the rest of the Hunters. "There's no arguing that they're strong but, their personalities are just the type that you either love or hate."

"I know. Weston's okay I guess but, he was supposed to be the one training us and he hasn't done a damn thing." Kairi rested her head on the table they were sitting at. "And it's not just them either. In fact the only person who's been completely honest with me is Kim. Almost everyone I've met at this school seems to shirk me off like I'm the odd one out or something. Even Shizuko does it. She's not mean or anything but, every time I ask a question about her, she gives a really vague answer. I ask what World is she from; she says 'A place where I was trained for my job.' I ask what her parents do; she says 'Nothing.' I ask where she got her sword; she says 'he didn't need it anymore.' What is that supposed to mean? And I'm not sure why but, I think Duffie's been straight up lying to us about… well everything. Then there's Isabel. What is her problem? She fires off those guns of hers in the middle of class if someone so much as taps her on the shoulder… I haven't been to class in over a week."

"Don't sweat it." Aqua said. "Weston and Sir Auron have a sort of understanding with each other. They trust each other. Can't say why though. As for the rest them you said it yourself, you're the odd one out. It's not a matter of not liking you or being mean or anything like. They all have something you don't have. Or rather, you have something they don't."

"And just what is that?" Kairi asked genuinely curious.

"Kairi, let me give you some advice. People like Felix and Isabel and Duffie and Shizuko are all… strange individuals. But, if they know anything, it's who they can trust and how much they can trust them."

"So they don't trust me?"

"They don't trust me either if it makes you feel any better. But, trust is something that's earned. Oh, before I forget…" Aqua reached down into a blue pouch and pulled out two envelopes, one blue and one white.

Kairi took them and read the blue one's return address. It was her house on Destiny Islands from her parents. She decided when she had some time to herself. Then she looked at the white one: the World Order HQ Business and Accounting Department. She opened the envelope carefully and pulled out its contents. At first she was mildly surprised by its contents. Then she took a good look at it. Her jaw went slack as she looked at rectangular sheet. She blinked and re-read it making sure she had looked at it right.

"Kairi, are you alright?" Aqua asked.

"Y-yeah…" Kairi answered as though she were in a trance.

"Well, if you're wondering why, the World Order actually pays you guys to fight Consumed when they don't have enough man power on their own. Though it's more that there aren't enough Wielders who actually join the Order's military to fight without losing men in the process really. I suppose the only way they could've taken down one of the Titans would to use nuclear weapons but, the damage that would cause would be… you're not listening, are you?"

"I have 9,000,000 munny."

**Hearts Gears**

Riku turned on his flashlight and looked around the dusty room with a curious eye. Maggie had been right. The library had a secret floor and the only access point had been a blind spot on the roof. He also realized why no one had discovered the floor after five centuries. The whole place had some kind of barrier that distorted any sentient perceptions on the building. Walking up and down the stairs seemed like it was only one flight rather than two. The actual entrance couldn't be noticed even while they were on the roof. If someone looked at the building from the outside it appeared as though the floor wasn't there. The only way a person could notice that something was off was by looking at the actual blueprints or knowing how to counter illusions.

The secret floor looked like an old filing room. Shelves filled with paperwork were all Riku could see. The whole place appeared abandoned. The wood the shelves were made of looked like they had been rotting for centuries. There was no electrical wiring anywhere and no windows to let in light. In the dust Riku could see the footprints of who he assumed to be the librarian. This made Riku curious to know just why he was there in the first place.

He walked down one the aisles with his eyes wide and his nose alert. The only person he could smell was Maggie who was perusing through files as quickly as she could. Exiting the aisles, he made his way down a path between the wall and the aisles. Eventually he reached the center of the floor which was free from any files. On the floor was a circle of runes glowing teal. "Hey, Maggie, come see this!" Riku called causing an echo that added to the creepy feeling he'd had since they arrived.

"Geez, don't shout like that, Silver. Ya scared the shit outta…whoa." Maggie stopped and looked at the circle with intrigue.

"This has to be what's causing the illusion." Riku said.

"No duh, Captain Obvious." Maggie replied. "Analyze." Maggie's glasses pointed a green laser line at the circle and moved up and down it five times.

"Why do have a computer in your glasses?" Riku asked.

"It's not an actual computer." Maggie said as data began flashing on lenses. "It's more of a router to my actual computer. Its processing power is higher than an iPhone but, it's intended for streaming data rather than doing anything with it. Right now it's sending the data back to my computer for proper analysis."

"So have you found anything interesting or just a bunch of old case files?"

"Most of it's just old World Order cover ups." Maggie admitted. "Historians and news teams from all over might be interested but, it's nothing any of my usual clients would be interested in. Nothing that could be used to blackmail people or new top secret weapons. Still, I haven't looked at everything in here. Might actual be something useful among these old files. For example, who knows what's on this baby." Maggie held up a plastic rectangular case with a USB cord attached to it that had the word "Ares" written on it.

"Hm. 'Ares'? Isn't that the Greek god of war?"

"Couldn't tell ya. Not much on mythology."

"So there is stuff you don't know." Riku said with slight grin.

"Please, if wanted to, I've got over a hundred teraFLOPS of power that can check the internet for me and find porn of it."

"I'm just going to forget that last part and assume that that's more powerful than my dad's PC."

"You have no freakin' clue."


	7. Strategy

_**Yeah, it's shorter, I'm busy.  
><strong>_

* * *

><p><strong>Lesson Seven<strong>

"**Preliminaries: Strategy"**

Kairi laid on her bed with the lamp on and the letters from home above her in her hands. Shizuko was sleeping in the bed next to her with her sword in arms reach. Any significant noise on Kairi's part caused her to reach for it even in her sleep. She returned to the dorm at six in the evening and had sleeping since. It was almost midnight

Upon opening the envelope Kairi discovered three letters inside, one from each of her parents and one from her younger brother Rokuro. They had everything you would expect in a letter from home. The typical "how are you"s and "we miss you"s. Rokuro had asked for a souvenir from another World. It was almost midnight now and she'd spent most of the day just reading those letters again and again. What was in the letters didn't really matter to her. It was the fact that her family had taken the time to write them that was important. They could have easily sent her a text message or e-mail but, they chose to break out the pen and paper. Kairi read her mother's letter again:

_Dear Kairi,_

_ I know what you're thinking, why didn't we just call or send an e-mail? Well, there's something different about writing letters. It feels better to be able to touch someone's words, doesn't it?_

_ Anyway, where do I start? First of all I'm proud of you. You've really grown up after all these years. I look back to the fear I had when your father suggested adopting you. We were still getting used to the whole parenting with Rokuro and I was terrified. Now, I see how foolish that was. You've become girl young woman, Kairi and I'm glad that I can say I raised you. And no matter your father says he misses you just as much as I do._

_ Now on to the advice. While you're gone, you're going to meet people. The thing, not all of them are going to like you. Remember this. Don't ever change who you are. No matter how anyone acts or what they say don't change yourself. Always remember who you and that there's always a place for you._

_ I know this is short, but I've never been that great with words. Just don't get into trouble. We'll be rooting for you we come the festival alright._

_Love,_

_Mom_

Kairi sat up in her bed and noticed Shizuko's arm move from the creaking of the springs. She looked at the blade that Shizuko seemed bonded to. Her mind wandered and looked at the letter intensely before thought about her conversation with Aqua. It wasn't then that realized what Aqua was talking about, what had that the other didn't. She recalled the first time she'd spoken with Kim mentioning how her life had been before coming to the Academy.

"I wonder what they were like." Kairi muttered as she cast her eyes at Shizuko's hand. Her shadow cast itself over the sword. Kairi begin to notice that the lamp light was dimming. She turned towards the window and saw a large ball of light was flying at the room. "What the…!"

The last thing Kairi seen before being blinded was a silver flash. Blasts of air could be heard in the instant. Debris fell to the ground outside. When her vision returned, the sheath of the sword rested on her bed. Shizuko's comforter was haplessly tossed to the floor and her bed had a massive impression in it. The lamp had gone out.

Kairi looked over where a wall had just stood to see Shizuko being bathed in moonlight. Her jet black hair stood perfectly against her skin, skin that appeared to be pure. The moon hugged her skin defining her curves in absolute perfection. Dark blue was set into her face gazing at the collapsing trees. The side of her facing the moon was white. The side closer to Kairi was deep in shadows her eyes and downward curved lips being the only distinguishable features Her hands held two weapons, her katana and a tanto knife. The blades reflected the moon onto Kairi's hands.

"They were like me." Shizuko said still looking the trees. "They walked a path that can never be returned from. It's a path I chose to follow."

"Sorry, I shouldn't have asked?" Kairi said sheepishly even she'd believed Shizuko to be sleeping. A gunshot, which Kairi assumed to be from Isabel, flew through the room. Kairi moved her head to the side avoiding certain death and wondered if Isabel had been aiming at her.

The movement caused Kairi to notice the message that floated in the middle of the room:

_Attention all competitors in the annual Twilight Festival Tournament, there is a mandatory gathering at twelve-thirty AM in front of the library. Anyone who is not in attendance will be automatically disqualified._

_Yen Sid_

Shizuko turned and read the message for herself. "I see." She said as she walked over the drawer in between Kairi's bed and her dilapidated one. She carefully set down her knife and sheathed her sword before pulling out her underwear.

"You see what?" Kairi asked as she placed the last back in their respective envelopes.

Shizuko dressed herself not bothering to look at Kairi. Her hair seemed to pull itself back as she clipped on her bra. "I'll give you a bit of advice, Kairi. Humans are far more terrifying than the Consumed and that's because unlike the Consumed, we have a conscience."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kairi asked pulling on her shoes.

"It means that you should remember that I have a sword and a tanto." She dressed her legs in black tights and pulled on her boots before slipping the knife into a compartment on her foot wear.

A foot drove itself through the girls' door and launched the thing into sky. "What the hell's with all the noise!? I'm tryin' to get some sleep!" Maria said with heat in her face.

Nanami was dragged behind her in a night gown. "It's bad that I'm getting used to this," was her only comment.

**Heart Gears**

Kairi found herself standing outside the library with Sora and Riku who were in their pajamas. Sitting on the ground next to them was Maggie her hands busy with a box filled with computer parts and screwdrivers. Maria stood with them still cuffed to Nanami. There group was at the back of the mass of students. All around them were the other competitors in teams of three. Felix stood out with his spiky maw of hair and Rainbow Dash vs Starscream boxers. Seifer and his team were wide awake when compared to almost everyone else who had been preparing for bed. Shizuko, Jake and Duffie were standing a little ways off next to a tree.

The evening was warm with an ocean breeze coming in from the sea near town. Shadows were cast of the school making the whole campus feel eerie. Even despite the fact that they'd been living on it for two weeks, most of the 512th class felt slightly unsettled.

Kairi attempted to look at Twilight Town's but was blocked by the angle of the library. What did see surprised her. Weston was looking down at her with Namarrkun on his shoulder and Kim in his lap. Behind them were Cloud, Aerith, Tifa, and Sharron. Other shadows shifted in the darkness with their only features being their silhouettes. Even without their faces Kairi was able to feel their eyes staring down on with a fiery contempt. On impulse she stepped back and could see Weston face palming. "Uh, why are they…" She staggered.

"Hm." Maggie turned her head from her work and looked at the library. "Oh, Weston said they usually watched this didn't he." Ratataskro popped out of her cleavage and nodded to agree.

"What is this exactly?" Riku asked looking at the competition.

"Riku, you do realize that there are forty-three teams gathered here right now." Maggie said going back to her computer parts. Riku nodded. "Out of them, six teams compete in festival tournament. Half of them are either defeated or forfeit in less than a minute."

"Wait! What?" Sora said only to be cut off.

"Attention!" Yen Sid's voice barreled through the air ending all activity in its wake. "Good evening all of you. I thank you all for participating in this year's annual festival tournament. I understand it is late and many of intended to be in bed right now, but this event I also a test. This is the way we gauge the strength of the class as well your talent. You must be prepared for all situations. Tonight is the preliminary round."

Whispers of dissent began among the group. Kairi looked at Maggie, hoping this was a joke on someone's part. Yen Sid spoke again. "Now, I will introduce your student body president who will explain the rules of the round."

"Who is the president anyway?" Nanami asked. The library's oak doors opened with a slow, loud creak. Nanami's mouth dropped when she saw the spikes jutting forward, then tied into ponytail. Black gloves covered his hands and pink eyes were set on the crowd. A black frog was resting on his head.

He lackadaisically stepped up next up to Yen Sid with a quiet smile etched onto his face. Behind him was a girl holding a tablet computer. "Hey guys!" He said with a wave. Maria and Maggie looked at him an annoyed look on their faces. Kairi stood quietly and noticed that even Weston was surprised. "Name's Daniel Hunter, but feel free to call me Danny. If you have any questions about extracurriculars, clubs, and such feel free to talk to me. But, you have to wait until after the festival 'cause I'm way busy until then. It's pretty much student run and everything so yeah."

"He's not too bad looking." Nanami mentioned.

"Don't let his face fool you." Maggie said carefully holding a graphics card.

"Anyway I'm supposed to explain the rules so, here we go. Around the school, six of the World Order's flag have been planted. The first six teams to bring one back to the semicircle around the entrance of the library will move on to the finals. Destroying the flags is illegal and will result in automatic disqualification. Only one member of the team needs to return. If all member of the team are incapacitated the team is disqualified. Outside interference means disqualification. Attacking an incapacitated competitor: disqualified. Pissing me off with stupid questions: disqualified. Any questions?" There was silence. "Good. Now send one person up here and get a map marked with the locations of the flags. We start in fifteen minutes!"

"Does the administration do _anything_ around here?" Riku asked with a serious tone.

"Keep us from killing each other." Maggie held a sly grin on her face.

"Ha ha, bitch." Riku's sarcasm rode the sentence.

"So how about I get the map?" Kairi said looking between Riku and Maggie. Sora raised his hand in protest but, Kairi had already started for the library.

A line had formed almost instantly. Kairi was stalled until the rest got their maps. "Well, how are we on this fine evening?" A voice said from behind her. Jake stood fully dressed with a smile.

"Jake? You actually look… prepared." Kairi noticed. "You knew about this?"

Jake cupped his ear and chuckled. "The streets be talkin' and I be listenin.' Like how I hear about you training with a Miss Kimberly Nation." He tilted his braided head back. "Shit, I've been spending my time looking for someone; instead I end up finding secret passages and all sorts of crazy shit around here."

"Really, who is it?" Kairi wanted to kill some time

"Her name's Naminé, if you must know." Jake answered. "Blonde hair, blue eyes, artist. She's kinda quiet though. She's from my home world, Radiant Garden but, they've been calling Hallow Bastion lately."

"Wait, you're from Hallow Bastion?"

"Yep, haven't lived there since the battle though." He added. "After the king and queen got iced, Ansem the Wise brought my mom in as head of the capitol and royal security. Naminé was a princess so we usually ended up playing together. Yep, back when our biggest problem was who had to be it."

"The princess. Isn't she…"

"Crap… my ass went and said too much." Jake mumbled. "Here's a little secret. The twin princesses were born brunettes. One was kept in the public; Naminé was so seldom mentioned it was easy to cover up the fact that she even existed so most people think there was only one."

"So, why hide Naminé? Isn't that unfair?"

Jake paused for a moment. It was obvious he was asking himself if he should answer. "Weston told you that one the Princesses of Light was also one of the princesses, right? You see, my mom's thought was like this: If someone found out that one of them was a Princess they'd know they were twins. Naturally the secret one was the Princess. So she sent the actual Princess into the public, kept Naminé a secret.

"Of course the Princess of Light still had old Dilan and Aeleus, Wielders, guarding her at almost all times. Me and Naminé were usually cooped up in the castle. Still we never were too far away from my mom. Man, we used to get into all kinds of shit."

"So the Princess of Light, she's dead isn't she?" Kairi asked.

"As far as I know. Course, I four back so my memories might not perfect." Jake admitted. "Hey, you're next." A map was being held in Kairi's face. Danny's tablet carrying assistant moved her stylus and crossed Kairi's team of the list. "See ya."

Kairi pushed through the crowd reached the spot where her team was waiting. Maggie and Riku were still bickering.

"Whore."

"Silver Haired Pretty Boy Fag."

"I'm back." Kairi said showing the map. Maria, Sora, and Nanami were busy listening to the squabble.

"Hey, at least I'm not ordering dildos!" Riku retorted. Kairi blushed

"Of course you aren't. The Way to Dawn is shaped just right. Why spend the money?" Riku's only reaction was the sound of words being caught in his throat and twitching his fingers. "Okay, now that that's settled, let's take a look at what my brother came up with."

Maggie took the map and opened it up. A green light ran over the sheet and changed into a 3D image of the school with the six flags marked. Her eyes began darting back and forth as her lenses were filled with images to small for anyone but her to see.

"That one." Maggie pointed to the class room next to Auron's. The design of it was basically the same except that the back of the desks faced the back of Auron's. Looking at the 3D, it could be seen that underneath the desks were storage area. Compared to the other five flags, Maggie's choice was at the relative midpoint in terms of distance between the closest and farthest.

"Why that one?" Riku asked. "We should go straight for the closest then get back here as quickly as possible."

"Or we could just cut around to farthest flag." Sora added.

"That's the most common plan, thus it won't work." Maggie said. "First of all there's no way you're going to be the first. Second even you did, you'd have forty-one other teams in your way back to the library, some of who could kill you on complete whim. Case and point is Xia Quin, a thief capable of hypersonic movements and possessing incredible martial arts skills. She can literally tear you in half if she wants to.

"Sora's cutting around the back plan won't work either because of mostly the same issues. You aren't the only one who thought that. Your best shot is here in the classroom. Most people will be making a beeline to the first one from here. The chances Xia Quin heading towards that one then coming back is 98.8437792%. There's 1.1562207% is that she goes towards the farthest. 0.0000001% to her going else. While most of the other teams are going towards those two, you'll run past them grab the flag from the classroom and get back. Take the path of least resistance. Simple when _you_ don't have to the math."

"Feels like running away." Riku said. "You saw what I can do earlier. Why not face them head on?"

Maggie chuckled and gave the smile she'd given Riku earlier. Kairi and Sora recoiled at the sight. Nanami gave a looked a look of disgust. In the light, Riku could see rows of binary code running across her eyes. "Let me explain something to you," she maintained her smile. "I don't give a shit what you say when you're completely and utterly wrong. I could less about you three. I'm not doing this to help brother or anything like that. I simply want to see if my "special serving" will work or not. Meaning you _have _to win and get to the finals. Besides watching you get crushed would be boring.

"In the end when someone asks why I bothered, I'll give them the same answer I give to everything I do. Good, evil, or whatever, the answer is 'It Amused Me'."

Riku tightened his grip. "How much bullshit are you gonna give us until you're through?" His anger hissed through his words.

"Until it stops bein' funny." Maggie said with a chuckle.

Riku turned back toward Danny. After he handed out the maps, he told all non-competitors to stand next to him or on the roof of the library. Maggie teleported Maria, Nanami, and herself to the library.

"Okay, everyone, time's up. We begin when I say 'go,' alright?" Danny raised his hand. "Three…" All chatter ceased. Everyone's body coursed with excitement. "Two…" No one moved but, the tension could felt in the. "One…Go!"

In less than a second the start the sound of an explosion could be heard. A visible wave of force ripped through the crowd knocking many off their feet. All that could be seen was a blue blur of a person leaving everyone else behind.

The blur immediately came back to the semicircle holding the flag. Her blue was tied in a long ponytail. Two bangs framed her face one much longer than the other. Black, knee high boots with tight short covered her legs. A red shirt was over her upper body. Next to her stood Simone who had a bruise on her cheek and Ienzo.

The preliminary round had begun.

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><p><em><strong>Next one will take a while. Review, ask questions, whatever.<strong>_


	8. Shizuko Kuroha

**Lesson Eight**

"**Preliminaries: Shizuko Kuroha"**

Sora looked in amazement at the trail that had been left behind. Every step Xia Quin had taken left a crack the ground. "Don't just stand there gawking, morons! Get going!" Jake shouted as he ran past them.

They immediately started running and were ahead of most the pack within a few seconds. As they ran they felt something pulling at them. Sora turned and saw a grey funnel spinning freely in front of the library. Students were being sucked up and spat out in various locations. "Don't worry about that too much." Jake's voice rang in the air.

"Where are you?" Riku said scanning the area. He couldn't see or smell Jake at all.

"Don't worry. I'm just masking my presence to avoid detection as all. Simple tactic really. Anyway right now I'm projecting my voice directly into your minds. Tricky since we're both moving but still doable." Jake said in simple tone. "Right now, just keep heading towards the classroom. With the competition thinned out like this it shouldn't too hard to get there and back so long as you don't do anything stupid…"

**Heart Gears**

"…just avoid any unnecessary fights and you'll be fine." Jake said as gazed at the statue that rested before him.

"Yeah we'll keep that in mind." Riku said before Jake cut the connection.

"I'd prefer not to keep them in the dark but, oh well." He stood a cavern with amber luminescent crystals gutting out of the ground, walls, and ceiling. The statue was like an imprint on the ground. It depicted three women each of whose lower body resembled an insect's. All of them were face down.

Jake took out a pair of black gloves and carefully pulled them onto his hands. "Sorry, I ain't much for praying or any religious crap. So how about this?" Jake drew up his power into his right hand and cloaked it in a veil of darkness. He slammed the open palm on the statue and sent a pulse across the surface.

The statue lit up brightly forcing Jake to step back and shield his eyes. When the light faded three women stood before him each in insect like armor. The first was tall in red praying mantis armor. The second was a stout blue ladybug. The third was youngest looking and was dressed was a bee. "Sandy, Cindy, Mindy, been a while hasn't." Jake said with a tone of familiarity in it. They just glared at him. "You three don't look happy to see me."

"Of course we aren't." Sandy, the mantis, said. "We happened to be enjoying our nap."

"Yeah, without your mother constantly summoning us, we were able to get some shut eye." Added Cindy, the ladybug.

Mindy, the bee, flew up next to him. "Y'know your mom asked us to play nice if you found us." Jake immediately jumped back and summoned his HG. Jake's was designed with two, black flat note symbols facing outward from the green hilt. The blade was thick and gray with two speakers on each side and a sharp symbol served as the teeth. Its keychain was tuning hammer. It was a Keyblade. "But, since when have we ever taken orders?"

"This falls under the category of 'not good,' huh?" Jake said as the Magus Sisters smiled sadistically at him. His eyes had sharp symbols in them.

**Heart Gears**

Sora cautiously opened the door to the classroom lit up by moonlight coming in from the windows across the room. Riku and Kairi followed him and looked at the room. The shadows of clouds drifted across the floor. The tiers of desks gave a ghastly feel when compared to the day time. Riku looked up and noticed how the clouds seemed to be converging on a single point in the sky. "A frickin' tornado. What else have we got to worry about?"

"I'd rather not find out." Kairi admitted. "Let's just take Jake's advice and get going. The longer we dawdle here the more likely that someone else is gonna show up."

"Well, here's the flag." Sora pulled it off the board. He turned and stopped the desks before he looked at his friends. Half of Shizuko was sitting at one of the desk. She stood revealing herself. As she walked towards the stairs she became more and more visible then vanished out of the light. Her footsteps could still be heard until she stopped fully bathed in moonlight.

"If you're wondering, I used a simple optical illusion to blend in with the desks. It's the same as when you stand in front of bright light really. The shadows mask any details."

"If you were here first why didn't you take the flag?" Riku asked.

"Why would I take something I don't need?" Shizuko's gloved hand reach for her sword and scabbard and removed them from the clip attaching them to the strap on her back. "The reason I'm here is to see how far you've come in two weeks. As I said to Kairi before, there are people here who stand above everyone else. This is because they've climbed their way to the top. Words like 'talent' or 'prodigy' or 'destiny' are meaningless on the battlefield. Humans can only get to the gods by forcing their way up. I'll admit part of me wants to see you in this war. But, part of me will want to kill the gods if you surpass me after starting so late. Because of that I'll only be using the back of sword when it strikes you. If you die here, you deserve it."

"And what's to stop us from leaving?" Riku said pointing his thumb over his shoulder. "The door's behind us. Remember?"

"Yeah, I mean there's no use fighting here so why not let us go for now." Sora hand shook slightly.

"You can try to leave." She placed her right hand on the hilt of the sword.

"Let's go." Riku said turning around. Kairi and Sora followed.

Shizuko appeared behind Riku and between Sora and Kairi. She held her sword parallel to the floor and level with Sora and Kairi's heads. She partially unsheathed the blade striking both of them and knocking them to the floor. Riku spun on his heel, Keyblade ready, and saw the reflection of his wide open eyes in the folding steel. The reflection vanished as the sword was slammed back into its scabbard and flash erupted from the point where the guard and scabbard met. Up close the sword was nothing special. No ornate designs or inscriptions could be found. A simple black scabbard and hilt. Riku swung blind and missed completely. He could feel the steel connect with his neck in less than in instant. He was lifted off his and thrown into the desks which gave way from the force.

Sora and Kairi jumped to their feet Keyblades in hand and attacked simultaneously. Both of them were deflected by a fast sword draw and were under fire too quickly for a full recovery. The sword appeared as quick silver flashes in the moonlight. Riku joined the fray with blood tricking from his mouth. Shizuko parried each strike never taking her eyes off of them. Every now then her black hair would blind their view leaving them open for kicks and blows from her scabbard.

After a parry knocked his arm violently behind his head, Riku received a blow to his gut from the hilt. He was knocked clear across the room leaving Sora and Kairi to face Shizuko. Kairi had summoned water to attack Shizuko but, these attacks were sliced through. Sora had augmented the Kingdom Key with a light based barrier but, Shizuko's sword held just fine. Her eyes occasionally flicked to Riku.

Shizuko slammed the scabbard closed stunning Sora and Kairi. Shizuko's fist was driven into Sora's stomach and the hilt into Kairi's. Both joined Riku on the opposite of the room; each tasted iron. Riku faced Shizuko and locked eyes with her. He poured light and darkness into his left hand and created a gray aura from it. Shizuko held her sword at her left hip and gripped the hilt with her right hand. A small smile appeared on her face. Riku could see perfectly. A pale red eyed woman in black kimono. Her white hair writhed like snakes in the air. Behind Riku was grey stone golem. Its round stone arms held a broadsword and its eyed glowed blue.

Sora and Kairi slid back across the floor until Kairi was against the wall and Sora against the desks. Riku held hand his hand out, building as much power as he could. Shizuko crouched suddenly and caused Riku to release the spell reflex. Gray-blue flames raged forward before colliding with an invisible force. They split down the middle revealing Shizuko with the blunt side of her sword facing forward. The split reached Riku before he could and lifted him off the ground. He was thrown into the wall leaving scattering cracks and blood. The windows shattered and the desks caught fire. Riku collapsed on the ground and Way to Dawn vanished.

Sora jumped away from the fire and to his unconscious friend. "Riku!" He shouted as he shook the boy.

"Like that'll help!" Kairi pushed Sora off, turned Riku over, and examined his wound.

Sora lifted his Keyblade and the shaft ignited. He tossed at Shizuko with scream of anger. It split in mid-air form six flames weapons. Shizuko charged as they converged on her and cut all them in one swift motion without slowing down. Keyblade reappeared in Sora's hands instantaneously and was bathed in the bright aura. Their swords met.

Shizuko calmly re-sheathed her katana. Sora stood, eyes wide, as she turned and image wavered. Kairi walked up next to him Riku over her shoulders. A metal clattering filled the room. Sora turned his head to the source of the sound. The teeth of the Kingdom Key lied still on the ground.

**Heart Gears**

After dragging Riku back to the library, the team was able to claim fifth thanks to a massive explosion someone had created cutting off the returning teams. Aerith immediately healed the group's wounds. Sora and Kairi received internal injuries but nothing fatal and Wielders could shrug off concussions after a good night's sleep.

The four other remaining teams were the Twilight Town Disciplinary Committee; Felix's team of Isabel and a crimson haired girl named Jagers whose choice of clothing was a blue Victorion style dress, a top hat, white gloves, and her HG the Jack Parasol; Jake who was heavily wounded, Shizuko, and Duffie; and Hayner, Pence, and Ollette who managed to get ahead using prior knowledge.

"Hi everyone!" Danny greeted with lazy smile. "No one died so, that's always good. But for those who wussed out after being sucked up by that tornado, you suck forever as far as I'm concerned. Anyway since everyone who matters is conscious let's get this show on the road.

"From this point it's every man for himself. The first round will cut the field to nine through a game of my design. The second will cut it to four. The last two rounds will good old one-on-one matches. Any questions? Okay. Good night or mornin' or whatever."

Danny walked through the crowd of stunned onlookers with a smooth pace and without hesitation. The girl with tablet followed apologizing with her eyes. His frog gazed at the crowd from atop his head and croaked.

**Hearts Gear**

"And you three knew the whole time; didn't you?" Riku scratched at the bandages around head. They sitting at a bench in the main courtyard.

"Of course we did." Weston petting Namarrkun who was eating eucalyptus leaves. "We've fought in this tournament. But that's beyond point."

"So exactly what's this so called 'Special Serving' supposed teach us anyway?" Kairi asked looking at Maggie.

Maggie tilted her head but, continued to work on her computer. "Nothing really. It's more about refinement training then giving you new abilities. To spin Bruce Lee, I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 spells once, but I fear the man who has practiced one spell 10,000 times."

"Put simply knowing various spells has advantages but, you can accomplish various goals simply knowing how to apply on spell in the right ways." Weston held up his hand and let electricity jump from finger to finger. "For example I can use one spell to destroy a building and the same one to do this."

A stream of electricity shot from Weston's finger into Sora's arm. Sora felt a tingling sensation in his forearm and watched helplessly as his finger contracted against his will. "No-no-no, no, no." He said before his fist met his face.

Weston repeated this a few times before Kim made him stop. "Anyway, if all goes well you three will at least have a fighting chance."

"And if it doesn't." Riku voiced.

"You three end up as smears on the ground." Maggie

**Heart Gears**

Kairi returned to her room and slowly opened. The wall was once again repaired and moonlight filtered in through the blinds. She walked into the room looked around. She was alone.

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><p><strong>Will Sora and co stand a chance, find out in three or four chapters which will hopefully be much longer than the last two. Review and that stuff.<strong>


	9. Good, Evil, and Them

_**I tried some new things with this one. I am really tired. Enjoy.**_

* * *

><p><strong>Lesson Nine<strong>

**Good, Evil, and Them**

Sora flopped onto his face and groaned into dirt of the forest. "My bones hurt…" He said attempting to push himself off the ground. They weren't in Twilight Town anymore. The forest was much vaster. Pines, oaks, and spruces surrounded them as far as the eye could see.

"That's probably just the stress fractures from the increased gravity. Nothing to worry about." Weston said doing one-armed pushups with his koala sitting on his back.

"Maggie's training regimen is gonna kill us before the tournament. It's only the first day but, it feels like my body's gonna collapse on itself." Sora managed to roll himself face up and found Weston staring down at him.

"Y'know, Cloud had a fourth year doing what I'm doing three years ago. When my naïve first year ass pointed out the unfairness of it, said fourth year took me to an island where it rained lightning and left me there with no food or water. Then pirates showed up. Moral of the story: quit your bitchin'."

Sora finally managed to get the strength to pull himself up off the ground and leaned against a tree. He looked up at the orange sky from his seat; his eyes followed a pair birds through the braches of the maple. He turned his head back to Weston who had resumed his pushups and asked. "Why do we have to fight? I mean why do we Wielders have to fight each other to see who's strongest?"

Weston chuckled but continued. "There's a _very_ long list of reasons as to why things are like that. You'll figure it out eventually, so I'll just tell you the biggest reasons. Put simply it's the whole reason the Academy was formed in the first place. They'll tell that it exists to train us to properly use our abilities but, in reality it's a monitoring system. Corral us all into one place and you've got pretty much all you need to keep tabs on the people who could bring the apocalypse. They tag us, check who has what powers, and throw us out into the world hoping we're not plotting to destroy it. And if we are, they're ready to fight back. Or they're ready if they decide to get rid of us. As for the tournament, it's to see who the biggest threat is. And believe me; I plan on making it very clear we could destroy them _if _we wanted to. But it's not like there are very many of us who actually want to.

"Of course the fact that Maleficent has that as her shtick doesn't help. Didn't exactly explain that part to ya back in Agrabah so, I'll get to it right now. See most Worlds aren't like Destiny Islands where Wielders like Xehanort get hero worship. In fact most people treat us like shit. Whether it's fear or hatred I won't go into. Point is, Maleficent got sick of it and decided to turn the tables create a world where only Wielders could survive. That's where Kingdom Hearts supposedly comes in. How? I don't know. Are you even listening to me?"

Sora was fast asleep against the trunk of the maple tree. "That little asshole."

**Heart Gears**

In Hollow Bastion, Maleficent sat on the throne of the long deposed king of the World. In her hand was her black staff with a glowing green crystal ball fixed atop it. The stain glass windows allowed light to filter into the long marble corridor leading to the seat and brightened the meter wide blue carpet a variety of different shades. The witch gazed at the large oak doors that were heavily engraved and carved with art truly fit for the royal castle.

The doors slowly creaked open as Maleficent's servant, Pete, entered. The overweight anthropomorphic cat walked into the room with a young man following him. His face matched Sora's perfectly and, his hair was just as spiky but black. His arrogant smile was backed by his amber eyes. A brown leather jacket with fur trimmings covered his torso and black jeans were on his legs. A pair of boots was on his feet. "So what do you want? I've got more important things to worry about."

"You'll be wise to watch your mouth, Vanitas." Maleficent warned. "I'm still in control here and you will show me the respect I deserve."

"Here ya go." Vanitas threw up his middle finger.

"Insolent little whelp!" The sorceress swung her staff violently. A stroke of black lighting shot out from the orb and rode the marble in front of Vanitas following the arc of the staff. He and Pete threw up their arms to shield their eyes from the light.

"Could've warned me it was that time of the month." Vanitas said to Pete under the sound of thunder. He lowered his arms and noted his singed jacket and the scorched floor. "Alright, alright you've got my undivided attention. Now let's hear it." Maleficent sneered and gave a less threatening wave of her staff. A ticket appeared in front of him and he took it from the air. It was colorful piece with balloons and bright orange silhouette of the Academy in the center. "World Order Academy 458th Annual Festival. All three days. Admission One." He read aloud. "You actually want me to go to this thing?"

"I want you to gather information." She told him. "If they are planning anything, that festival is the best time to find out. In particular keep an ear open for Cloud Strife, Tifa Lockhart, Weston Hunter, Kimberly Nation, and Neil DeVito. My underlings are wanted criminals. You are anonymous. A ghost. And you will be rewarded handsomely."

"Hm," Vanitas looked at the ticket with an amused expression. "Alright, I'm in." He stuffed the ticket into his jacket's inside pocket. Dark energy surged from his right hand and took the shape of a chopper accented with gears. He swung his leg over the seat as a black helmet took shape over his head. Vanitas pulled on the handle bars starting the engine. A black swirling Corridor of Darkness opened in front of him. "By the way, if you turn on me, in short order, I will fuck your shit up."

He drove into the Corridor laughing as it closed behind him. Pete glanced at the tire tracks before warily turning back to his mistress. "Gee, uh, you sure we can trust that guy?" He said almost tripping on his words.

"Of course not." Maleficent answered with a scoff. "This is game of wits. I have the Heartless; the Order has the Academy. Vanitas is a rogue piece that does as it pleases. Best he pleases to help our side. Does that pea brain of yours understand?"

"Uh yeah, I guess." He didn't.

**Heart Gears**

Shizuko was awoken by feel of the pick-up truck coming to a stop. At first her eyes rolled over to the driver, Squall Leonhart. He put the truck in park and removed the key from the ignition. Looking in his rearview mirror he saw Yuffie Kisaragi and Isabel sleeping in the back seat. "You two, wake up. We're here."

Yuffie and Isabel stirred into consciousness with groans. Yuffie let out an over exaggerated yawn, stretching herself completely and covering her mouth. Isabel shoved one of arms that was in her face down in irritation. "First they fly us here at two in the morning, then they make us drive for an hour. This job sucks." Yuffie complained mixing her words with another yawn.

Squall leaned back into his seat and said, "Not my fault you didn't get some sleep. If you're gonna complain, do it to him." Squall pointed to the man stepping out of the red SUV's passenger side in front of them. His black hair was slicked back. Glasses were on his face and a smile that Shizuko interpreted as false was on his face. A turtle neck and jeans set him apart from the rest of the occupants of the vehicle. They were six well built men four of them having tattoos. Their clothes were significantly less contrasting to their faces fitting the fact that they were World Order soldiers. All of them were glaring down the pick-up. However, as Shizuko suspected, the looks were towards Isabel.

Squall and the rest of the pick-up's occupants stepped outside onto the dirt driveway they had driven onto; Isabel pulled up her jacket's hood. To the left of the truck was the metal gate that led the garden of the retreat house they'd be using as a base of operations. The rest of the house was surrounded by a wall that was built into the other structures. In front of them was a building with a slanted roof. Glass was in the top half of the building but the rest was stone painted white. A bulky robot like art piece with new red, blue, and green paint sat on the front steps that led into the building. A dirt road was next to it. On the trucks' was left a simple single story building with windows that let one look into rooms with young students in red uniforms studying. Behind them, down a dirt slope, was a cement soccer court. It was surrounded on three sides by a fence. The fourth side had a wall with cement bleachers and a restroom. Beyond the fencing were more buildings connected to the retreat house with cobblestone paths between them. Past one corner of the court was a path that led to elsewhere in the compound and past the other was a metal gate that led to the cobblestone street of the village. Beyond the far side of the court with the buildings was a church bell.

On the court were about twenty boys between the ages of eight to ten playing soccer. The boys were mostly tan with dark hair and mostly wore sweat pants and soccer jerseys. They shouted at each other in Spanish occasionally but, mostly used Quechua. There were two white men playing with them. On the bleachers were women and girls watching the game. Squall had caught the eyes of a few of the girls and younger women. A few boys who weren't playing stared at the group with smiles and joking shoved one another to see who would greet them first. Around the compound men were working to maintain the grounds.

As a whole the village was surround by mountains most of which were covered in grasses and other plant life. The setting sun was being partly hidden in the east. Isabel looked onto one mountain and saw the inscription carved into it: "Viva Andahuaylillas."

After a few minutes the doors of the slanted roofed building opened. An older man in his fifties came out along with a group of young children grabbing his legs. They eventually let go and allowed him to leave but, he laughed and smiled the whole time. Like the rest of the locals his skin was tan but his hair was grey. A baseball cap was on his head and a brown jacket was over a red polo. His aged eyes were behind a pair of glasses.

"Welcome, welcome." He said holding out his hand to the man with slicked hair. Squall glanced at Isabel as he heard his voice. "Mr. Dwayne, it is good to see you in person."

"Father Miguel, I presume." He said shaking the priest's hand. "Thank you for the cooperation on such short notice. Our original accommodations had to cancel and we just didn't want to cancel the trip."

"Eh, no problem." He said releasing his grip and patting Dwayne on the shoulder. "It's our pleasure. Please, all of you come inside." Father Miguel beckoned towards the gate which he opened. The garden had a stone pathway among its grasses and flowers. Directly inside from the gate was a lemon tree which Isabel immediately picked and ate of not bothering to peel the fruit. The retreat house had two buildings separated by the garden. One could be accessed by turning left directly inside gate but, the other larger one had to be entered from the opposite side.

Father Miguel led them into the larger building and gave a short tour. The main room was a rectangle with wooden floors and another door that led to a yard across it. It was furnished with wooden chairs and tables. The walls were white but, the window frames were varnished mahogany giving a good splash of color to the room. To the right of the entrance was a hall that led to the bathroom and bedrooms. At the end of the hall was a staircase that went to the upper floor. "If you need anything while you're here, come find me." Father Miguel said before leaving.

Shortly after, the Order soldiers started unpacking the trucks. The smaller bags had personal belongings and toiletries. The larger cases contained weapons ranging from sidearm to heavy artillery. They quietly moved trying not to draw attention to themselves. It wouldn't be good if a nosey child saw their arms. Each soldiers' weapons were stowed in their rooms and a rule was immediately put in place to prohibit entrance into the bedrooms to anyone outside their group. The main room, however, was left clean of such items.

Eventually Dwayne held a meeting in the main room. The smile still remained on his face. "Ladies and gentlemen, I glad to say that step one of this operation is complete. For those of you who don't know," He looked at the Wielders, "I am Dwayne Kline, director of the Zero unit, who are basically the World Order's black ops squad. Our mission is to eliminate a faction of the remnants of the terrorist organization called the Shining Path. This group has been using Heartless from Maleficent to cause trouble for indigenous of this World and the government of this particular area doesn't have access to the equipment required to deal with them. Also they've been supplying her with weapons including RPGs, humvees, and tank piercing artillery. Bear in mind that when I say 'eliminate' I mean nobody survives. Is that understood?"

He was answered by a loud "Sir!" The Wielders simply shrugged.

"Our actual assault will be in a week. We'll go over the details over the course of the next few days. Until then we play the role of geologists taking samples and measurements on the formation of the Andes. The kids here are receiving science credit for being interns. As long as everyone read up on their files, we shouldn't run into any issues. Dismissed."

By the time the meeting ended night had fallen. Shizuko decided to walk around the compound to familiarize herself with the area. The air was comfortably warm but she found her chest strained in the high altitude. She sat down on the cement bleachers and gazed at the moon. She was the only person outside at the time and the only other creatures were insects and a dog resting in one of goals. Her mind wondered to the battle so early that morning. She was glad the three of them weren't anywhere nearby. Particularly, Kairi continued to spring to mind, specifically the face she made when the fight was over.

Biting her lip, Shizuko searched her mind for something else to occupy her thoughts. Instead her ears were filled with, "Hi cuz!" She glanced over to the retreat house and saw Yuffie waving and Squall shushing her. Yuffie vanished and reappeared on the bleachers with smile on her face. "Sure has been a while huh."

"Seven years actually." Shizuko responded returning her eyes to the moon. Yuffie blocked Shizuko's view by standing over her.

"And that's why we should be catching up." Yuffie said plopping down next to Shizuko. Squall had walked over but, decided not to disturb them choosing to kick around a soccer ball that had been left on the court. "So what ya been up to?"

"I don't see how that's any of your business, Yuffie." Shizuko responded sharply.

Yuffie shrugged. "Well, the family's been doing fine. Ol' Staniv just had his third kid. Dad's being Dad, I guess." Shizuko didn't react. "He was really happy when he heard you were alive. You _are_ his sister's only kid y'know. And we're all sorta worried about ya. You're family in all."

"Is there a point to any of this?" Shizuko asked.

"Well, we want you come home, back to Wutai with your family." Yuffie admitted with a smile.

"I don't have a home anymore! The closest thing I have to family is Jake." Shizuko head jerked towards her cousin.

"That's not true! You know Aunt Marina wouldn't want to hear you say something like that." Yuffie argued.

"You're right. She wouldn't." Shizuko admitted. "That doesn't mean have to agree with it."

"And here I thought that blood was thicker than water. Guess I was wrong about that." Yuffie turned her head away with a pouting expression on her face that Squall almost laughed at.

Shizuko returned her eyes to the sky and said, "No, you thought right."

**Heart Gears**

Three days had gone by, Wednesday, and the 'Special Serving' was in full course. The trio's goal at the moment was an exercise that they had been doing since day one: climb a half mile, sheer rock face with their bare hands. To up the ante, Maggie had started putting one hundred pound weights weights on their backs the second day and increasing them by ten pounds each day. The three of them were utterly baffled as to how they were still alive.

"I hate her." Riku grunted as his arms pulled him higher. He could see that the top of the cliff a few pulls away. He forced himself to tough it out and climbed over the top. Fortunately Maggie had the decency to allow a water break and rest after they had all climbed to the top. Ten minutes later, however, she pointed down the trail that led back towards the forest they were camping in.

And they ran the three miles as they'd done before being weighed down even further. Once they arrived at the forest they received another break before doing sit-ups with the weights clutched in their arms. After that came lateral lunges. Then there were the squats. And it continued on with more strenuous exercises for two hours.

After an hour break they were right back to exercising. It was at noon that actual combat training began. It started with an obstacle course that changed every day. "I don't like this." Kairi whispered as she stared at the completely empty canyon.

"C'mon, I spent like two hours setting this up." Maggie said, pushing them forward. "Go, on. Go."

Sora finally ran forward hoping nothing too bad. The first thing that happened was energy turrets jutting out from the walls of the canyon and firing. Sora jumped forward to avoid the shots and Riku and Kairi followed him. When the turrets stopped the ground began shift. Rocks rose out of the dirt beneath them and lifted them into the air for more turrets to fire at them. Pits appeared spontaneously in ground and were filled with non-venomous snakes or other animals that weren't happy to see them. Rocks were thrown down the cliff. Geysers blasted them with hot water and steam. Vultures pecked at them. Flaming arrows were shot from the cliff walls. The ground exploded.

After they completed the "Mile of Death" as they'd come to call, a name which Maggie took up with pride, the three of them rolled onto their backs desperate for rest and water before the thankfully lighter training in the afternoon.

After a decent sized lunch consisting of fruits and sandwiches, the group separated for five hours of individual training. Sora had spent his time with Weston in the forest. Most of the time, they were working on actual combat. Sora quickly learned that even though his specialty was electricity Weston had learned the basics of various other elements. These spells were picked up by Sora at an alarming rate to point were Weston had pretty much stopped using magic and relied on his martial arts.

The expression on Weston's face confirmed that he wasn't really trying not even using his HG. His long arms and legs flew at Sora with incredible precision. Each punch, chop, knee, kick, and elbow came less than an inch from connecting. Occasionally they'd be charged with electricity. Sora would be stunned then knocked on his butt. The Mile of Death made sense to Sora in moments like these. His reflexes were unbelievable even to himself. Each movement was timed and Weston's were making more sense as time progressing. Sora began noticing tiny things about Weston that let him dodge more easily. The way his weight shifted before a kick and his eyebrows moved before punches. There was an incredibly slight delay before electrically charged blows.

Throughout the entire day, Sora saw one opening as he was stepping back from an open palm thrust aimed the solar plexus. Weston's feet were planted firmly on the ground which would slow down his movement for a single moment. Sora fired a blizzard spell at his back leg freezing it to the ground. He prepared to use Strike Raid but, Weston broke free after a smile and used his other leg to kick the Keyblade into the air. A back kick knocked Sora off his feet.

He watched as the Keyblade landed in the grass next to him. Weston gave him a thumbs up.

**Heart Gears**

"Oh, why do I always have to do this kind of stuff?" Pete grumbled as he walked through the razed town. Buildings still burned from the destruction. Windows were shattered and glass littered the street. A crushing sound made Pete jump but it was just a building ready to give way due the damage it had sustained. The only signs of life were animals running around free and the bodies of those who'd tried to fight back.

"Ah Pete, guten tag!" Pete jumped at the female voice. He spun around and found its source before trying to make his face look somewhat dignified. The girl, Raynor von Brandt, in front of him had dark blue hair with red eyes. She stood in the ruined town with a light fabric jacket and black jeans. "Are you sick?" She said through her rough German accent. "Your face, it is pale."

"I, uh, I'm fine thank you very much. Uh, gut 'n' tag." He responded still gathering his face. "I came to check to see how your mission was goin'."

"All who are not dead are Heartless. They were not much for fighting. Easy day." Raynor explained.

"Yeah, easy day, sure…" Pete looked at ruins and noticed the building that startled him earlier was finally collapsing. Grey dust filled the streets around and clouded the area around him and Raynor. "So I'm also supposed to give you a message."

"And it is?"

"To go to help Hamilton with the preparations for the plan to kidnap those other Princesses."

"I get to go to the big city!" She squealed in delight. "I go! I go!" Raynor opened a Corridor and leapt through without another word.

"Mission accomplished I guess."

**Heart Gears**

Squall had just gotten through with a shower after playing soccer with some of the boys of the village. After putting his clothes on, he came down to make himself a cup of coca tea. He set the leaves in the mug and poured hot water into it. Taking his spoon he mixed the coca with sugar and had his drink.

As he sat down to enjoy the tea, Dwayne Kline walked into the room with two thick file folders tucked under his arm. Squall glanced in the director's direction with the cup to his mouth. Kline maintained the smile he'd been wearing since the first day. Squall still didn't trust him. He sat down across from Squall and laid the folders down making sure their labels could be seen: "Isabel Sanchez" and "Shizuko Kuroha." Both had "Security Level 6" stamped across them and a photograph of the respective girl clipped on.

Squall couldn't stop his eyes from looking at the folders. The nagging urge to open them danced through his mind. "Seems like a lot trouble to just throw them on the table." He said.

"Trouble? The only trouble I had acquiring these was waiting for the intern to find them." Kline admitted. "So do you care if I stay or would you rather I leave you to read in peace?"

"I don't really care what you do." Squall set down his drink and pulled Isabel's file towards himself. He opened it and began skimming to gain bits of basic information. As he'd suspected, they were on Isabel's home World and town. Her records stated that she had vanished at the age of eight shortly after her abilities began to manifest themselves. Her location was unknown until two years later when she reappeared with Felix Hunter. After that the pair went on what could be described as a three year rampage on the world around them. They eventually decided to come to the Academy for reasons yet to be discovered.

Shizuko's was vague with certain details. Her parents and extended family were murdered when she was seven and she had been assumed dead as well. Then two years earlier a string of assassinations and conveniently timed deaths started. Eventually the Order noticed her and Jake's movements and confirmed her identity. They hired her in exchange for freedom and money. Her motivation to join the Academy was unclear but, Squall assumed it was to get on someone's good side.

"Anything that interests you?" Kline asked as Squall put the folders down.

"Why are you showing me these?" Squall questioned watching carefully as Kline gathered the files.

"Because in my line of work, favors are worth far more than money." He left down the hall and entered his room leaving Squall alone with his lukewarm tea.

**Heart Gears**

Kim's training for Kairi was simple on the surface: maintain a still bubble of water while Kim generated massive multi directional currents around her. This was complicated by the fact that Kairi had to breath inside the bubble at the same time. Kairi had adopted a cross-legged stance in the center of the bubble and rested her hands on her knees.

The churning made seeing through the water difficult so, Kairi didn't notice Kim until she'd stuck her head into the bubble with her tongue hanging out and crossed eyed. For an instant she forgot to breath. She coughed in the water while Kim stopped the currents, giggling to herself. Kairi caught her breath and turned to face Kim. "What was that for?" She said as she relaxed her body.

"Well, imagine if my face had been, let's say shark. You would currently be being chewed on." Kim stated. "Change 'shark' to 'bullet', 'fire', 'fist', 'sword', 'piano', 'knife', or 'bomb' and you've got what could happen to you in the tournament."

" 'Bomb'?"

"Yes, 'bomb'."

"Aren't there, like, rules against stuff that."

"Well, Shizuko has her katana and a sniper rifle, Felix has broadsword and Glock 19, Izzy carries…well let's just say she _really_ likes guns… and grenades… and C4…" Kim paused for second. "…let's just say she like things that kill people."

"How have they not been arrested yet?"

Kim put her hand to her chin in a thoughtful manner.

**Heart Gears**

Six months prior to the orientation, recruitment for the 512th class was under way. Cloud and Aerith found themselves outsides of a warehouse in the dead of night. They had been searching for the source of the chaos going around the terrorized city and tracked it to the warehouse.

Cloud opened the rusted door slowly and cautiously. Their noses were immediately assaulted by smell of blood. Under the industrial lights stood Jake and Shizuko. Next to Jake were the charred remains of some poor drug dealer. Shizuko's katana shimmered with blood and a QBU-88 was strapped onto her back.

"Uh…" Jake said looking at the pack of hashish in right hand. "This is only _half_ of what it looks like."

**Heart Gears**

Weston stared in amazement at the burning town and watched as people fled screaming for their lives. "The Second Coming is near!" A man with a Bible in hand shouted. "Repent! Repent!" The man ran after the crowd still shouting his preaches.

Weston with Namarrkun on his shoulder strode into the town feeling no threat at all. A line of bodies, most wielding guns and knives started about a five minutes into his trek with the fire still raging around him. At the town square he found Felix, Isabel and mess of corpses. "Hey bro…" Felix said sheepishly. The head of a man was impaled at the end of his broadsword which was white on one side and black on the other. Isabel had her shotgun in a survivor's mouth "Look, the town was terrorized _before_ this happened."

**Heart Gears**

At the present time, Squall, Yuffie, and Isabel were inside the enemy's red stone compound. Squall and Isabel were on the left of the corridor and Yuffie was to the right. Squall held his Lionheart gunblade in his right hand; Yuffie had her Four-Point shuriken, and Isabel duel-wielded Patria submachine guns.

"Numbers?" Squall whispered.

Isabel's eyes began to glow red and had a spiral pattern beginning at the pupil and spread all across her eyeballs. Her sight pierced through the stone walls and saw a hallway with twenty men carrying AKM's. Heartless hiding in their Corridors were visible as well. The men were on high alert. Isabel relayed this information to Squall silently.

Squall made a three finger wave to Yuffie and she moved. She jumped out and blurred for a second as gun fire hosed the corridor. "Hi there." The men turned and saw Yuffie waving at them before they fired again. Yuffie reappeared were she had started. Squall ran down the hall and slashed at the enemy before they turned around. Isabel provided cover fire with her red lights of bullets that shifted direction to avoid hitting her allies.

After the men were finished off, the Heartless appeared. Isabel gunned down three Lancer Soldiers and stepped behind Squall. Yuffie appeared next to her clearing out the Heartless to Squall's back with her shuriken. Squall raised the Lionheart over his head and slammed it into ground. A wave of energy barreled through the Heartless.

When the dust settled, a grenade flew at them from the other end of the corridor. Squall batted it back with the blunt side of his gunblade. The explosion killed the thrower and created a smokescreen which Isabel ran through. Before emerging she began firing, her eyes seeing clearly through the black. She entered the wide open room filled guards and charged forward. She only stopped when a grenade was in her face.

Six of the men that were still standing surrounded the explosion sight with their rifles ready. A red glow was emitted and they were peppered with the shrapnel intended for the girl. Yuffie cut down three of them from behind. The other three, fired their weapons continuously at Isabel who was surrounded by a dome of spinning red energy. The bullets ricocheted in all directions until a few got caught in the dome and sent back at them.

Squall had cleared the Heartless that appeared when the World Order unit came in through a side entrance. No words were exchanged between the two groups and they simply followed orders to walk down the final corridor as one. The only noise was the door being kicked off the hinges. All they found was an empty oak desk.

**Heart Gears**

Pedro Soria sat smugly in the passenger's seat of his personnel humvee. With him in the armored vehicle were the driver, three armed soldiers, and five million US dollars in a brief case. The humvee drove down the perilous mountain road, only a few feet away from plummeting to the ground, with dexterity. Soria and his men had escaped the compound when they realized Wielders were involved with the assault. He now had the full intention of joining his comrades elsewhere and cleansing his hands of the off World business permanently. Sure that would mean that there would be men with highly advanced technology running around with no leader but it wasn't his problem.

Soria's smile dropped when the gunshot precluded the destruction of a tire. The humvee spun, fortunately into a very wide turn in the road, before stopping. Another shot, the shattered window, and the splatter of blood on his face told him that the driver was dead.

He and his soldiers jumped out of the vehicle to kill the aggressor. His soldiers brandished HK53's while he had a Beretta 93R. Two of the soldiers went to scout the back while Soria and the other on stayed in front. He looked at the moon with terror keeping his finger on the trigger. Time slowed as adrenaline filled his blood turning thirty seconds of silence into an hour. Right when it became impossible to mentally focus, he heard one of his soldiers in the back shout, "Tomas! Tomas!"

Soria and the soldier with him ran to the back and found no one there. Then a noise came from the mountain side. Soria with a quivering hand pulled out his flashlight and turned it on. One of his soldiers was dangling by the leg. His throat was slashed open by a knife. The flowing blood and gurgling told the two men he was still alive and probably begging for help.

Soria dropped the flashlight and turned to run in terror. There stood Tomas with his HK53 pointed at his fellow soldiers. The rattling of the gunfire pressed Soria in firing his own weapon as his final guard fell. The three shot burst was avoided with inhuman agility. Tomas was covering Soria's mouth. A bone crushing grip forced him to drop the 93R; a kick to the back of the leg sent him to the ground. Tomas's knee dug into his back.

Soria looked at the serrated blade that was his. With his mouth free he uttered, "Te haré rico si me permitiere vivir." Tomas just smiled and slit his throat.

**Heart Gears**

"Why am I eating this much?" Kairi moaned before slurping down more of Kim's spaghetti. It was two nights before the festival and the group had gone to Kim's room for a large dinner. She'd made use of spatial warping technology to expand her quarters to form the pub she dreamed of owning one day. It was nothing too fancy consisting of a bar, tables along the wall, and a raised center area where the dining was occurring.

After the Special Serving, or Ten Days in Hell as the trio had called, the all returned to the Academy and were treated to a high carb dinner consisting of pasta, fruits, and grilled chicken. The three had found that with increased strength came an increased hunger and Felix's eating habits made sense to them now. Jake, Felix, and other competitors joined them at Weston's invitation. Shizuko and Isabel had returned as well. In spite of the rivalry nobody seemed to hold any real grudges or animosity towards anyone else. Even Simone, Siefer and his gang were caught in the pace.

All Kairi could do was smile.

* * *

><p><em><strong>I like being criticized. There's a box for it now.<br>**_


	10. Festival: Those Friends

_**Come on. We have them. Enjoy.  
><strong>_

* * *

><p><span><strong>Lesson Ten<strong>

**Festival: Those "Friends" You Don't Want Your Parents to Meet**

Kairi woke at five-thirty in the morning on the first day of the festival and found herself unable to get back to sleep. Her reaction was to go running through the school in sweatpants and a yellow t-shirt. Her body felt extraordinarily light in dull beams of the sun that had only just begun to rise. It moved almost reflexively through the campus which had been turned in the festival grounds. She leapt over a stand that would be selling cotton candy just because she could.

Before she realized it, Kairi was at the train station on the edge of Twilight Town. She sat at the end of the plaza in front of the station that dropped to a cliff and overlooked the ocean. The sun had risen about half way painting the water gold.

Soon she noticed a peculiarity on the ocean. Water twisted and spun and bent the light in ways that produced a mirror of the figure in the center of it. The movements were smooth and precise and hid the figure's form with the sun. The dance ended with the water forming a hurricane around the figure, small in diameter but colossal in height. The water burst free of the cyclone and rained into sea. With the sun light to its back all Kairi could clearly see of the figure was its long hair.

**Heart Gears**

Auron sat in the empty stadium as the sun rose with his long time friend and former class mate, Mickey Mouse. Built in an empty meadow owned by the school, the finals of the tournament would be held in this arena. Built in the shape of an oval, it could accommodate four thousand people that would consist of the students, faculty, locals, and various off-Worlders who came to see the tournament.

"So, how're the new students." Mickey asked.

Auron chuckled at the question. "No crazier than we were, I suppose."

"Yep," Mickey laughed back. "Gosh, all the trouble me, you, Jecht, and Jackie used to get into. It was so much simpler back then. Now we've got Maleficent and the Organization to deal with. Sorta makes ya wish all those fairytales were true. Good versus evil and good always triumphs."

Auron shrugged. "In the end we sentient life forms are just too complicated for a life like that. There are quite a few people who agree with that woman for one reason or another. Our enrollment rate has dropped by twenty-five percent in the last eight years if that's any proof. Of course, what can one expect?"

Mickey looked across the stadium and saw Jake sitting with his feet propped on the guardrail. "And all it would take for most of 'em is someone showing a little good interest in them." The sun began to filter into the stadium brightening the metal seats and giving Auron and Mickey a golden tint.

**Heart Gears**

Kairi nervously dressed herself in the clothes Kim and Maria had picked out for her. A black, padded vest fitted for a woman her size was over a blue hooded shirt. Her legs were covered to just above the knees by a skort that was blue in the front and black on the inside. A pair of grey fingerless gloves that went up to her elbow rested on the vanity. Kim had also helped her buy a fanny pack that was warped on the inside allowing her to carry a vast array of extra equipment.

The shower was running and the clock was nearing ten, the time her parents said they would be arriving at the dorm. She wasn't totally sure what was making her so nervous. The realization that she really didn't know much about Shizuko in spite of living in the same room as her was bound to make things somewhat awkward. She figured it would be nice for them to see Kim again, but Kim's boyfriend was a different story. Then there were said boyfriend's siblings to consider. One of them was competing against her; one was a crazy hacker who flirted with her; one was her violent neighbor. Not to mention she'd really only made one other friend, that being Jake who she figured was scheming something. Also to be taken into account was the fact that Shizuko had left a sniper rifle and tanto knife on her bed. Her father was chief of police before becoming mayor.

Then the awaited knock came when the shower stopped. Kairi took a deep breath and released it. She opened the door a saw her adoptive parents framed with Rokuro in between them. It was obvious that the three of them were blood. They all had light brown hair and dark eyes, the father beginning to grey. Both Mr. Umihana and Rokuro had glasses set on their faces while the Misses wore contacts. Even in spite of the fact that they weren't blood, she knew they were her family and was overtaken by a gentle warmth in her heart.

The following embrace was almost involuntary on her part and seemed like it was an eternity coming. She wrapped her arms around both her parents and drew them close to her. Rokuro found himself caught in the mash and hugged his sister in spite of his face being uncomfortably close to her breasts. Both her parents kissed her on the cheek before Rokuro grunted, "Love you too. Could you please stop crushing us now?"

Kairi released them and shuffled back with a blush. "Oh, sorry." She rubbed her arms noticing they were much more toned than they had been a month ago. "Um, come in." She said with a motion. As they entered she positioned herself in front of Shizuko's bed.

They looked at the small room with smile on their faces. "Surprised you managed to fit all your clothes in here." Mr. Umihana joked.

"Y'know, I really haven't even had a chance to wear any of my really nice ones. Once this whole training business got started I haven't had much time to rest let alone go out." She admitted.

"Speaking of training didn't you say that Kim's boyfriend was helping you with it?" Her mother asked.

"Uh, yeah, he said that but, it was actually his sister who did most of the work." Kairi said rolling her eyes.

"Well, either way it took as Rokuro pointed out." Mr. Umihana rubbed his shoulder and craned his neck.

"Yeah and I found out in the _worst _way possible." The boy chided.

"I'd consider sending you through a wall a much worse experience." Kairi responded as Maria's bare upper body busted through the wall. "Though maybe blasting you with toilet water would be more effective."

"Hey, Kyoko, got any shampoo I can barrow?" Maria asked then pointed at the stunned family. "These your folks?"

"First of all, it's 'Kairi'…" She corrected. "After Shizuko's out of the bathroom and yes." She stopped for a moment as she processed the fact that a naked girl had rammed her way through the wall while her parents and little brother were in the room. She wasn't sure which was more concerning: the previous statement or the fact that she had gotten so used to it occurring she didn't even react to it. "This is Kim's boyfriend's other sister, Maria." She said shuffling to hide the girl's breasts from Rokuro who made an obvious effort to peak.

" 'Sup." She greeted casually.

"Um, hi." Mrs. Umihana wasn't sure how to reply.

"Is that a QBU-88!?" The former police chief exclaimed. Kairi's head turned slowly to the bed where the rifle lay unattended.

"I guess that's what it's called." She said sheepishly not having any idea how it was any different from any other rifle.

At that moment, Shizuko stepped out of the bathroom with her sword in her left hand. Her upper body was covered by a black tank top. Black pants covered her legs and she was bare foot. "Good morning." She said with a wave. She glanced at the four not-roommates, lingering on Maria for a moment, with an analytical eye. Without stopping she opened the wardrobe and set down her katana on the inside. "I'm not _that_ interesting; am I?" She said as pulled out a black jacket.

"So miss…" Mrs. Umihana started looking at Kairi.

"Oh, um, this is Shizuko. Shizuko this is my mom, my dad, and Rokuro."

"Nice to you." Shizuko said as she pulled on her jacket. She held out her hand and shook with Mr. Umihana.

"So, where are you from?" The mother continued.

"I was born in the country of Wutai on a World known as Gaia but, I've been traveling with a friend for about two years." Shizuko said as she zipped up.

"Really…" Mrs. Umihana said. "Me and my husband spent our sixth anniversary on a tour there. It's such a beautiful land."

"Yes, it was nice trip." Mr. Umihana added. "I'm sorry but, may we please address the elephants in the room?"

All eyes except Mr. Umihana's turned to Maria. "What? We talkin' 'bout me? A just wanna borrow some shampoo."

"Well, that yes, but I was referring to the weap…"

"Shampoo!" Kairi interrupted. "I'll go get that for you." She ran into the bathroom and shut the door behind her.

"Not good." She said aloud. Her eyes and arms were frantically searching the small room for the shampoo. "Okay, Maria destroyed my wall: normal. No, not normal. I can't even tell what's normal anymore: bad. Next, Shizuko has sniper rifle, probably should've asked her to put that out of view. Really should've remembered when Kim mentioned that in the first place. Kim! I know she's normal…mostly. Sure she served me vodka and has a massive collection of alcohol and probably broke quite a few laws somewhere in between but, they don't need to know that. In fact, they don't even have to meet Weston. Or any of the Hunters ever again for that matter. And everyone else? Neither Jake nor Duffie have actively tried to attack me, so there's them. Gotta let them meet Auron. And Shizuko. How do I explain Shizuko? Um, maybe I could tell them that she's some sort of World Order assassin who protects me because I'm actually the other princess that Jake mentioned in his story. They'd never buy that! Oh crap, then there's Isabel. Can't let them _near_ Isabel. Olette. Olette's normal! No sniper rifles. No connection to Hallow Bastion. No murderous look in her eyes. I could totally have her over for a visit without her destroying our house."

Kairi grabbed the shampoo when an explosion shook the dorm. She ran out the bathroom and found her wardrobe knocked over and Shizuko prepared for battle. The wall crumbled and revealed a white room with charred floors. Isabel and Olette were standing behind a glass barrier. Isabel had a detonator in her hand. "Knew I should not have skimped on the blast room." She said with an annoyed expression.

"Right, gotta consider the chances of them _getting_ the house destroyed." Isabel and Olette started arguing. Maria used Vector to take the shampoo. Nanami complained about the noise. Shizuko finished getting dressed. Kairi's parents shared the same flabbergasted look. Aqua ran in to see what the commotion was about. Rokuro realized this was the start of his best day ever.

**Heart Gears**

In the first years boys' dorm, Riku showed his parents and three out of his four siblings his metal abode. His two little sisters, one eleven and the other nine, had managed to keep themselves occupied with DAAC-B, as Riku had shortened its name to. The machine seemed to be programmed to do whatever it was told. His older brother sat on the stairs and had his head in his iPod. Riku was catching his parents up on the past few weeks of his life at the kitchen table making sure to omit certain details.

"So this Weston guy, did he win the tournament?" His father asked.

Riku shrugged, "Don't know. I never actually asked." He admitted. "Didn't seem important when the guy can shoot lighting from his hands."

"But how well can he use that lighting? That's what I'm asking." His father said. "If you're going to do something, son, make sure you do it with being the best in mind. That's all I've ever asked of you."

"I know, dad." Riku said as he leaned on his elbow and used the other hand's index finger against the table. There was a silence in the room except for Riku's tapping and his sisters giggling as DAAC-B did the hokey-pokey.

"So has anything else interesting happened?" His mother said. "Perhaps there's a lady you've had your eye on?"

"Mom!" Riku shot up with eyes wide open.

"I'll take that as a 'yes.'" She laughed at her son.

Behind them, Riku's older brother had gotten up from the stairs and made his way to the refrigerator. He laughed as he listened his mother taunt Riku. He opened the refrigerator and scanned its contents while keeping his ears open to the embarrassing conversation. That's when his eyes locked onto the prize: "Pudding."

Daichi snapped up the chocolate-vanilla swirl and started looking for a spoon. No sooner than this did he hear the sound of a siren to his right. Turning his head, he discovered the barrel of a machine gun trained on his skull. Moving his eyes slowly, he realized DAAC-B had produced the gun from the same place as its arms along with weapons Daichi had only seen in movies of which included a flaming chainsaw.

"You have ten seconds to replace the pudding. Ten…Nine…Eight…" Without even looking at the refrigerator, Daichi returned the cup to its exact location on the second door shelf, to the right of the orange Gatorade. "All is forgiven." DAAC-B packed up his arsenal and returned to his previous task: doing an impression of Pinkie Pie.

"What the _hell_ was that?" Daichi asked as he fell to the floor relieved of terror.

"I…" Riku had his Keyblade out and his eyes on DAAC-B. He relaxed and ran his hand through his hair. "I…I have no freaking clue."

"Well let's find this roommate of yours, and find out!" Riku's father said. "To be so irresponsible as to give their child a weapon like that… He's in there, isn't he?"

The question was answered when the steel door flung open. Instead of a raving mad scientist, Duffie came out wearing nothing but a baggie pair of pants and goggles around his neck. Surprisingly, he was excellent physical shape which would have been much more apparent were it not for the fact he hadn't bothered cleaning any of the oil off of his body. His hair was an utter mess as well. The fury in his eyes was further highlighted by the dark circles underneath them. "Who the _fuck _touched my pudding!?" So, yeah, they still got the mad scientist.

The little sisters immediately pointed to Daichi who suddenly found DAAC-B's chainsaw to be a show of friendship and love. He turned to his magically empowered younger brother and mouthed the words, "Help me."

Riku's mouth was still wide open comparing shy kid he met a month ago to the lunatic standing before him. "Uh, Duffie…" Riku said as DAAC-B's weapons began to reemerge. Duffie's bloodshot eyes turned towards him. "It's me: Riku. Helped you out a month ago with Seifer."

"Who?" Duffie asked.

"Y'know, Seifer. About this tall. Blond. Total jackass. Jumped you after the orientation."

The look on Duffie's remained unchanged until he started mumbling. "Orientation…never went to that. Oh!" After a few seconds, a wide awake, fully clothed, non-insane looking Duffie walked out of his work area. Riku's mouth opened again. "Yeah, pretty damn realistic, huh?" He said as he pinched the cheeks. "I made the skin out of a polymer consisting…"

"Wait a minute!" Riku interjected. "You mean this whole time I've been talking to a robot!? And you've been my roommate? And you're some kind of kid genius? When, if ever, were you planning on telling me any of this? And when was the last time you slept?"

"Nyeh…" Duffie head tilted for a moment. "In order: yes. Yes. Yes. Whenever it happened to become remotely important to mention or you asked which is now. And…okay so your family is here- I'm still pissed by the way- that means the festival starts today which means that it's April fourteenth, so eight days. Okay on with the vicious killing. I've gotta get some shut eye."

"The target has left the perimeter." DAAC-B announced.

Daichi had fled as fast humanly possible. "That son of… ah screw it. Match starts at fifteen. Set an alarm for fourteen hundred. I wanna look presentable." After that he simple tilted back and went to sleep right there on floor.

**Heart Gears**

"Why did you bring _her_ along?" Sora asked his parents as he watched his cousin, Suzume, blatantly flirt with Felix. The fact that Felix wasn't wearing a shirt didn't make him feel any better.

"Sora, she's your cousin." His mother said. "Besides, she and Daichi had the day off so there was no point in not bringing her." Sora simply pointed at the scene in front of them.

"Please, your uncle can handle him if he gets too close." His father added.

"Trust me. A shotgun will not stop him."

**Heart Gears**

The campus, now loaded with people, was alive with music, games, and vendors. Rides had been erected overnight and the stadium could be seen from anywhere. Most were having a good time. The ones who weren't either hadn't sold much yet or they were named Vanitas.

Vanitas skulked through the crowd with his hands in his pockets trying to avoid drawing attention to himself. He kept his eyes open for any of his targets but, he felt dismally bored in the festivities. "Well, look wha' aris deci'ed to show his face." Vanitas turned around recognizing the accent instantly. Jagers stood with the tip of the Jack Parasol pointed at Vanitas's throat. He snickered at the girl, taking in the scar on her left eye. "Something funny to you?"

"No, no. I'm just happy to see my friend alive; that's all." He said without looking away.

"I _might_ 'ave believed that if you 'ad'nt left me to get slaugh'ered in the mountains by the Chinese army." Jagers pressed the tip to Vanitas's skin. "Now, give me one reason shouldn't blast your 'ead off righ' 'ere and now."

"Well first of all, you _can't_." The tip began to glow an incandescent white. "Secondly, even if you could, you be screwed too. Look around." Without moving her parasol she glanced around seeing the crowd looking at her. No one did or said anything but, they were uneasy. She lowered her HG. "So let's be civilized here shall."

"You 'aven't got an idea of what 'civilized' even means." Jagers said opening the parasol and levitating it above her. She led Vanitas to a tent where a restaurant had been set up. Her dress seemed to pull itself back at picnic table not catching on the wooden bench at all. "So just what is it that you want 'ere anyway?"

Vanitas threw back his arms still maintaining his smile. "Hey, I'm just doin' a little recon. Commission work, to keep myself busy." He put both hands on the table and leaned forward. "I could be burning villages and having all sorts of other fun, y'know." He sat back down as the waiter came over. She took the pair's orders and gave a wink to Vanitas. "Really, I could be asking you the same question. Why are you in this boring school?"

"Convenience." She admitted. "Ain't really got no place to go so, why not here. Be'er than selling my soul to Maleficent obviously. I can leave anytime I want. That old fool, Yen Sid, can't hack it no more than I go' a pair under this dress. And the rest of 'em are too clueless even figure what's goin' on under their own noses let alone their students."

"That so. What do you say to doing me a favor?" The Jack Parasol folded and pointed at Vanitas's throat. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a roll of cash. Jagers snatched it out of his hands and inspected a few of the bills making sure they were real.

"You said you were doin' reconnaissance, right?" Vanitas nodded. Jagers removed her top hat, dropped ten glass eyes onto the table, and put the money into the hat. "Just give 'em a li'le charge of magic and they'll activate. You can control 'em telepathicly then lock 'em onto a target. They'll even turn invisible. Audio and visual transmission with a magic encryption that only I can decipher. Got about three days of charge on 'em so they should last long enough."

"They got recording?" Vanitas asked inspecting one of them.

"If you 'aven't noticed, I don' exactly trust you. Of course I'm goin' to give the shi'y ones."

**Heart Gears**

Unsurprisingly, things had gotten extremely awkward. It started after Kairi had given her family a tour of the school. Shizuko had followed them and remained armed to the teeth the whole time; her sword and rifle formed an X on her back. Kim and Weston joined them for lunch. Weston surprisingly had remained tact and hadn't said anything rude. He still, however, chose to wear a man-tank, shorts, and flip-flops. Then Mr. Umihana asked about their parents. The only words spoken in five minutes had been Weston requesting a refill on his pink-lemonade. Then Maggie appeared with her hair decorated with rooster feathers. "Who asked the awkward question?" She asked.

Mr. Umihana coughed and spoke up. "I simply asked about their parents. I didn't realize it was such touchy subject."

"Well, allow me to get the conversation flowing again." Maggie pointed at Kim. "After she…" Maggie's jaw immediately slammed her mouth. Her grunting was the only sound she made as she tried to pry her own mouth open.

"Go away, Maggie." Kim said. Her eyes repeated the phrase with their intense gaze. Maggie pouted and vanished. Kim got up the table and ran off without saying a word. Weston immediately went after her. Shizuko excused herself from the table shortly after.

Mr. Umihana spoke after another silence. "I'm sorry about that. I should've tried to change the subject when I realized they were uncomfortable. They're still kids and, I'm in no position to make demands."

"No it's not your fault." Kairi responded. "I should've told you ahead of time. I asked Kim about it while we were training. She told me that of the people here really don't like to talk about their past."

"Still that girl-what was her name? Maggie.-she seems like real trouble." Mrs. Umihana added.

"Oh yeah." Kairi said. "Please avoid her at all cost."

**Heart Gears**

Three o'clock had arrived with the roar of crowd. The entire stadium was filled to brim and many more were watching screen in the campus. The families of Sora, Riku, and Kairi managed to get front row seats by arriving early. Weston, Kim, and Maggie joined them. In the arena, the competitors stood on eighteen individual pedestals around a tall central tower that Danny stood in.

Some of the competitors chose to dawn different outfits for the occasion. Felix wore a black t-shirt underneath a teal jacket with the sleeves rolled up and buttoned down to his elbows. Simone wore a sleeveless black long coat and a purple backless shirt that was held up by fabric around her neck and below the ribs. Her pants had zippers that zig-zagged across them but the lines didn't actually connect. She wore sandals. Duffie's outfit remained the same sans the zipper. The only change Sora and Riku received were more durable materials.

Danny Hunter picked up a microphone and began speaking. "Ladies and gentlemen! Boys and girls! Mice of all ages! Welcome to the five-hundred and twelfth annual first year tournament!" The crowd's cheering increased. "I'm proud to say we have reached capacity and then some! I'm sure you're all wondering what is this contraption I'm standing on." He said waving to the tower. "Well what you see here is the latest in the world of science. Each of the pedestals our combatants stand on will digitize them into our virtual reality program. I would explain how that's possible but, I honestly have no idea. Simple fact is, we've been allowed to commandeer one these devices for our competition. Various projectors around the stadium will create a perfect image of the battlefield for our live audience.

"Now onto the rules. We will drop you into a digital environment of my own design. No holds barred. Last nine standing move on to round two." Danny said with no hesitation. "I know what you're all thinking. In the event that one of them gets…oh I don't know: cut in half, ripped to shreds, turned in to Swiss cheese etc…they'll be reconstructed in the real world. Although based on reports from its use as a training simulator..." He pulled out a sheet of paper. "I wanna get this right, 'Moderate to severe amounts of phantom pain were reported as lasting for two to five hours being severely wounded in a simulation.' Well, that's science for ya.

"Okay, people let's get this show on the road. Ten…nine…eight…" The crowds cheer increased but, couldn't be heard. This was it: the time to shine. "three…there'relotsofweaponslyingaround one!"

At that point the world stopped. Streams of ones and zeros rose from below wiping out the field of perception that made up the real world. Eventually the codes were taken away to reveal a new reality.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Who will kick whose ass. Take a guess. (Note that your suggestions will have no impact whatsoever).<br>**_

_**Once again I tried a few different things with this chapter but, I like how it turned out. **_

_**See Ya!**_


	11. Festival: Free for All

_**To those wondering what took so long: college. **_

* * *

><p><span><strong>Lesson Eleven<strong>

**Festival: Free for All**

Danny's battlefield was a jungle with a large mountain in the center. Foliage from various Worlds was used to make up its interior and together they created a thick canopy that blocked sunlight and cooled the forest floor. Kairi recognized a few trees that grew on Destiny Islands. All those years of playing in the jungle finally paid off as she easily climbed to the top of a hundred foot tall tree and out of the canopy giving her bird's eye view of the area. She immediately found what she was hoping for: a river that came from a lake near the center of the arena. She paused for a moment and took in the realism of the virtual arena. If she hadn't been outright told, she would not have able to tell the difference.

"If you're done…" Jake rang in her head. She looked around and saw him standing at the base of her tree. "You might want to get down from there before Izzy or Shizuko snipes your ass." He said without opening his mouth.

"Uh, yeah, good point." Kairi quickly climbed down hoping it wasn't a trap but, Jake pointed out he would have simply eliminated her if that was his goal. "So what _do_ you want?"

"An alliance obviously." Jake said mentally as he began to walk in the direction of the lake. "I keep you in the game; you help me get a little information I'm lookin' for.

"Really, I'd think Shizuko would be a bit jealous. Don't you?" She teased.

"Kairi, let me explain something to you." Jake said as he ducked under a low hanging branch. "The chances of you getting past this round are about the size of Duffie's sanity, Sora's penis, and your gaydar range." To emphasize the point he pinched his gloved fingers only a centimeter apart.

"What?" Kairi said aloud.

"Exactly my point." He made sure to think. "Simple fact is Simone is headed towards the same place we are and, if you'd gone alone you'd be fucked."

"Oh, come on. How bad could she be?"

Jake's mind remained silent for a moment considering ways the question could be answered. "Okay, I'm gonna be straight forward here. To begin with _what_ever she is, ain't completely human. Whatever that other part is makes her into one of the most coldblooded and ruthless beings in the universe and, that's taking Maleficent into account. And based on what information I have on her, she may have a clue as to who started this Kingdom Hearts shit in the first place. Just so you know I have the full intention of killing that guy myself."

"And why don't you just ask her for the information?"

"Me and her had a little…altercation a while back." Jake voice trailed. "Put simply, if that Ienzo guy hadn't been the center of her focus, she would've tried to chop me in half. Believe me the fact I'm still alive is not for want of trying on her part. Of course, there are _lots_ of people who want me dead but, she's my active concern right now. So I figure hey, if she's gonna roast me, may as well be in a place where I won't die for real. At least I hope that's how it happens."

"Oh come, Jake." Kairi shook her head. "She may harsh on the outside but, we gotta look past that. Look at Weston for example. Yes, on the outside he is rude, crude, selfish, and in general a bit of jerk but, underneath it, he's actually a really kind and intelligent guy. I'm sure that beyond all the death threats there's really sweet girl who just wants some friends. Sounds to me like having your World over run by Heartless just made you little cynical."

"Sounds to me like living on a tropical paradise for a decade made you a little too optimistic." Jake responded.

"What?"

**Heart Gears**

Riku looked up as Jagers floated above him, still underneath the canopy of leaves, keeping his nose open for anything else that might be lurking. He swung his Way to Dawn at roots she brought to life attempting to strangle him. A stream of gray flames poured from his hands igniting the forest floor. Riku turnd and ran from the fire while he shot a focused ball at Jagers. She laughed as she used the Jack Parasol as a shield the flames obscuring her vision. When her visibility was restored Riku was in her face thrusting his Keyblade forward. She moved to her left and her right hand glowed red. Before Riku could react, Jagers delivered a powerful backhand and swatted him to the ground.

Riku hit and slid across the moist dirt before stopping on his belly. He lifted his head and spat out the dirt. Jagers floated down not quite letting her dress touch the ground. She removed her hat and dropped a toy knight in armor. The armor grew as Riku stood up becoming life sized. "Crap." Riku muttered as the knight charged with its claymore drawn.

Riku parried the first blow and moved for a strike of his own. He was blocked and shoved onto the ground. Riku rolled on his side and dodged a sword through the chest that changed into an upward slash. A shield made of energy protected him and gave him time to get to his feet. The knight didn't let up at all, however, and Riku had to avoid another swing this aimed at his neck. Riku easily evaded the slash but, the knight changed the blade's direction getting it in between Riku's hand and the Keyblade's guard. Rather than let his wrist be twisted, Riku released his grip.

Before the Way to Dawn flew out of his reach, Riku grabbed it by the chain which extended in length and flailed it cutting the knight across the chest. Light magical energy poured out of it like blood as Riku pressed his hand against the wound and fired electricity into it. The knight stiffened and glowed red from the eye holes before collapsing onto the ground in pieces, light flowing out of them. Each piece returned to its original toy size.

Riku flung the chain again and sent a burst of energy from where the chain met the hilt sending his Keyblade on a straight flight towards Jagers. She jumped and ascended into the canopy watching the chain as the Way to Dawn was embedded into a tree. "Got a few tricks up your sleeve after all, do ya?" She said. Riku pulled himself towards the tree gliding over the air as he did and yanked out his Keyblade before jumping into the air. He it over his head and in a flash its sized increased instantaneous, the width of an SUV and the length of a phone though it remained as light as ever. Jagers immediately revealed a dagger and threw it past Riku into a tree. Right when he swung down she vanished and reappeared by the dagger. When the Keyblade hit the ground a line of circles lit up in the dirt and exploded.

Riku landed on the ground with his Keyblade returned to its normal size. Jagers looked down at him from a thick tree branch holding her dagger. Three more appeared from her sleeve and were thrown. It took little effort besides tilting his head to avoid them which had Riku concerned. When Jagers vanished, Riku spun and created a wall flame that would have incinerated her were it not for her parasol. He dove forward prepared to deliver a finishing blow. She moved again this time to a knife in a tree. Riku fired his Keyblade forward gripping the chain. She was gone and the Way to Dawn was embedded again. He pushed himself forward and shortened the chain to serve as a vine and prepared to plant his feet Jagers's chest. He hit the dirt that lit up beneath and exploded. Lost his grip his Keyblade on the way up and was met by Jagers who delivered another powerful backhand, this time sending him straight into the ground.

Riku pulled himself off the ground grabbing his neck amazed it hadn't snapped. He called his Keyblade to his hand and pointed it at Jagers who merely sneered at him.

**Heart Gears**

"Okay, buddy. Payback time!" Hayner said before he charged Felix with his meter long sword. One side was a blade; the other was serrated. Felix ducked beneath the swing and stepped forward so that he was in arm's reach. Hayner's head was grabbed and, Felix flung his forehead into Hayner's nose. A clear bone breaking sound was accompanied by blood splashing on Felix's face. Hayner vanished into a cloud of ones and zero before he even hit the ground.

"Next?" Felix looked at Olette and Pence who immediately started running away. In the distance, an explosion shook the mountain prompting Felix to head towards it.

**Heart Gears**

"Ugh, my face." Hayner said as he was reconstructed in the real world. The Twilight Town Disciplinary Committee in its entirety joined him within a few seconds. He listened to crowd on as they cheered on the fight between Riku and Jagers which was displayed with hologram.

Danny jumped down from the tower with microphone in hand. "Well Hayner, you are among the first to be eliminated, completely anticlimactically might I add. Any words?"

"Just get me some aspirin or something." He grumbled grasping his nose.

"Haley, let's look at the instant replay." His assistant pushed a button in the tower and the clip of Hayner being head butted was project. The crowd gasped and "oh"ed at the sight. "Nice shot, little bro. Show 'em the X-ray shot." The clip played again, this time showing his and Felix skulls. Hayner watched in horror as nose flew back to where his brain was. "Yeah that wasn't real, huh."

Hayner walked off the platform and, Danny walked over to Seifer. "Well, like our friend Hayner you and your pals were OHK'ed except in fiery explosion rather than blunt trauma. Your thoughts?"

Seifer smacked the microphone away and limped off grumbling to himself.

**Heart Gears**

Olette and Pence finally stopped running and were gasping for air. "Okay..." Pence wheezed. "I think we're far enough." He stumbled over to a tree only for the ground beneath him to explode. Olette fell on her butt and watched as chunks of Pence were deconstructed.

"Yeah, those guerilla tactics of hers sure are a pain." Olette looked up and saw Ienzo in a tree. "She planted a few land mines as soon as she digitized along with quite a few other booby traps. I'd say were on edge of a fifty meter radius death zone. By the way I wouldn't just stand there." A bullet passed between Olette's eyes as he issued the warning the ending of which was muffled by a gun shot. Ienzo watched with an indifferent expression as the red and pink mist with pieces of her skull mixed in left her ruined head. "I really hope that wasn't with a side-arm."

Ienzo, having already decided to target Isabel, skirted around the edge of the death zone through the tree, using their leaves as camouflage. After seeing what had happened to Pence and Olette, he confirmed that touching the ground was suicide along with staying in one place. After finding a solid branch he stopped and looked into the zone. Ienzo knew trying to attack directly would get him shot or otherwise killed costing him the round.

However, loosing didn't concern him. He was more interested in the rumors he'd heard about Isabel. Tales that had spun about her actions in the past. To be specific, the spirals that were in her eyes. Were they the key to her impossible marksmanship? What else could they be used for but, most importantly what were their true nature. These question and more filled Ienzo's mind as he took his first step into the death zone.

He scanned the area in front of him with distrust then took step onto a different. Underneath him a bell attached to a crossbow bolt chimed. With a single wave of his hand several copies of himself appeared. They flew off and created the sound of the bell from anywhere they discovered another bolt. Ienzo ducked behind a tree a narrowly avoiding a hail of red energy bullets. He sneered at simplicity of Isabel's alarm system. He assumed that the bells were enchanted.

He moved swiftly through the trees and deployed another copy of himself. The copy appeared to flee, while Ienzo turned himself invisible and went deeper into the death zone. Fortunately for him, Isabel followed the copy. Even so every step was treacherous and could lead to his end. Ienzo stopped when he a rhythmic beeping in the trees. He looked around and saw a block of C4 duck taped to a tree with a sound based motion sensor for a detonator. He saw a bolt hole next to it. He created new duplicates and sent them to scout for more explosives.

Ienzo waited in his position for his scouts and used his sixth sense enhanced smell to analyze the battle as a whole. Simone was in a two-on-one battle that was taking place on the lake with one spectator whom he couldn't identify. He could smell Riku and Jagers going through the air. Three people were fighting on the mountainside and said battle was the source of many explosions. He couldn't find the other six, though he highly doubted that Shizuko had been eliminated.

His scouts returned with the locations of each trap. Ienzo summoned his Lexicon and opened the pages hoping that Isabel hadn't noticed him. He could see a map of the death zone with each bomb and bell marked. His scouts had also located Isabel's base at a clearing near the center of the zone. A small hand drawn image of himself marked his own location at about twenty-two meters into the perimeter. Isabel was one hundred-seventy degree clockwise from him. Ienzo dismissed all the scouts being able to produce the illusion of chiming bells on his own.

Ienzo started moving carefully among trees tops deeper into the death zone using his illusions to hide the shifting and rustling of the leaves. Every now and then he would stop to make sure he wasn't about to walk right into a death trap. He plotted his course with the full intention of making sure he and Isabel didn't overlap. A sigh of relief escaped his breath as he reached the clearing. The relief was short lived.

Steel was pressed against his temple and a bang resounded through the forest. Isabel placed her other hand on the Beretta M9. Ienzo didn't disappear in binary but, rather blurred out of existence. She slowly moved towards the center of the clearing her eyes analyzing the area. She caught a glimpse of something. A shimmer of a being moved within the trees.

Isabel holstered her pistol on her left thigh and grabbed the back grip of her Steyr AUG that had been strapped to her back. As she rested the rifle against her left shoulder, a red light moved from her pistol into the magazine. She placed her right hand on the front grip. A gurgling came from the trees she was facing. Spirals appeared in her eyes and let them pierce through the foliage. Rather than some beast as she expect all Isabel saw was an infinite blackness.

"I'll admit getting here was rather difficult." Isabel turned swiftly to find no one there. Her bells chimed. "These bells were so simple yet surprisingly effective. You must great pride in your ability to lure your enemies to their deaths. It makes me wonder just how many times you've done something like this. How times have you killed Miss Sanchez? How many enemies have you made? What would happen if someone came to take revenge?"

From the ground rose a bipedal beast that towered over her. Its mouth drooled red and reeked of blood. Its muscled rippled under its waxy skin and its horns curved upward. Each claw was brow and dried blood was caked into the crack. Isabel maintained a calm expression backing away slowly. Her eyes couldn't see through the beast and she couldn't through the jungle on account being surrounded by landmines. They had markers but, those needed to be visible for her to use.

"Oi. You can hear me, right?" Isabel said with a smile forming. "If you think some ugly mutated bull and a guilt trip are enough to scare me you are dead wrong." She stared the beast down along her rifles sight as it prepared to pounce. "Aki!" Isabel shouted before it leapt forward. She dove under it and rolled on her right arm. She rose into a crouching stance and fired seven rounds into the beast's back eliciting a roar of anger from it. Each bullet created a spurt of from the beast. "Aki! Aki!" She shouted again waving her Steyr around in challenge. It pounced again Isabel using the same maneuver as before but, this time fired as she rolled. Also she left a grenade behind.

The explosion to the face was enough to settle that matter but, Isabel was still trapped in a in the small pocket of the jungle now with a dirty jacket sleeve. She placed her rifle on her back and pulled out her pistol. The spirals in her eyes shifted winding tighter and forming a wave pattern until they got through the darkness. She saw Ienzo smugly sitting on a root facing her but, didn't linger on him. On her second pass, however, Isabel lined up the sights on her Beretta her eyes zooming in on his head. The smile left his face and surprise took over as he turned to run.

A red bullet went through his temple.

**Heart Gears**

"So was this part of the plan?" Kairi asked Jake through thought as he joined her behind the boulder she'd taken cover behind. The grass next to them ignited as a wave of thermal energy passed over them.

"Okay plan A was a bust. I'll admit it." Jake said throwing his hands up. "So here's the deal. I can win in a straight up fight against her. I _have_ won a straight up fight against. It was not worth ending up in the hospital for two weeks. And losing was an even worse experience. Not doing that again. So I'll distract her and you're gonna use that rocket launcher we picked up to hit her. After that I'll deliver a finishing blow. Simple, right?"

Kairi pulled the FIM-92 Stinger out of her fanny pack, looked at it, looked at Jake, and said, "I don't know how to use this thing."

"Look this thing was modded to fire guided rockets. In other words lock-on and pull the trigger. Don't point it backwards and for the love of Christ, don't be a team killing fucktard. Okay, break!" He jumped from behind the rock and was met with another heat wave.

"Thanks for the reassurance." Kairi said as she made sure she had the correct end facing the target.

Jake flew over the frozen lake where Simone waited on the ice. She immediately jumped into air with the blade of her scythe on fire. Jake blocked the strike with his Keyblade but was pushed downward. He propelled himself from under Simone and let his Keyblade fragment itself into piano keys forming a whip. The keys were spaced by darkness and, each movement of the whip was a reaction to the key being played in Jake's mind. Simone dodged each movement with ease, ducking, swerving, and pull-vaulting over the whip which frequently made holes in the lake. It wasn't long before she had gotten herself a footing on the whip. All it took was a few key strokes the whip to coil itself around her. "Okay, now's good!" Jake telepathy told Kairi. "Nevermind!" He thought as flames snakes their way down his whip and towards him.

The whip disappeared and Jake's Keyblade took appearance of a sitar. "Didn't even know I could that." Simone mentioned as she rolled her neck.

"Well, we learn somethin' new everyday; don't we?" Jake said through his teeth and began playing. From the holes in the ice, water spewed out flew towards Simone. The second any of the spouts made contact with her arms, head, or scythe they evaporated into steam. Eventually the center of the lake was cover in enough steam to hide both Jake and Simone from sight. When the steam cleared, Jake was holding a ukulele.

He began playing the instrument and objects of all shapes and sizes rose from the ground. Rocks, pebbles, trees, icicles, braches, leaves, stones, a katana, chicken nuggets, a batarang, a lump of coal, bananas, tangerines, a grenade, a claymore, the core drill, a stick of dynamite, a block of C4, a pair of mittens with 27's on them, a war hammer, the rock Sora was hiding behind, Sora, a halberd, a Type-1 energy sword, a copy of Auron's sword, a bow, an arrow, the orb of tsunami, a kitchen sink, the orb of confusion, a hidden blade, the Bane, a pair of modified Berrettas with ivory grips, a Master Sword, a shrink ray, a flail, a chain scythe, a Swiss army knife, a spear, a railgun, a flamethrower, a Taser, mace, claws, kryptonite, and a battle ax were flung at Simone.

Simone immediately swung her scythe in a flaming ring around herself deflect the first wave of objects. She dodged a spear and deflected the Berettas all while displaying rage and anger at Jake. Then Sora was flying at her with the Kingdom Key raised for an attack. His attack was blocked but, he maintained the same course which was a head to head collision.

Jake could see what happen and stopped playing, for moment forgetting he was in a virtual reality. Sora flipped, hit what was left of the ice, and slid shore on his face. Upon reaching land he scrambled to his feet and hid himself behind the rock Kairi was position. "What's she doing?" Sora said with terror in his voice. His face was bell pepper red.

Kairi gazed at Simone through the scope. Brackets around her body indicated that it the rocket was locked-on. Simone wore a completely blank face with her fingers touching her lips. "She's just standing there." Kairi was unsure whether or not that was improvement. Then she lowered the Stinger. "More importantly than that why didn't you help us?"

"Because I didn't realize the other option was to be used as a projectile!" Sora shouted to make sure Jake heard.

"Hey! Let's get two things straight here." Jake said pointing at the rock. "First of all, I would've done that either way. Second, we need to hit her with everything we've got! Now!" Jake's ukulele morphed into a seven string electric guitar.

"Oh! Right!" Kairi raised the Stinger and found she had to wait to lock-on to Simone again.

"Is it getting hotter?" Sora asked as he raised his Keyblade and readied an electrical spell. He couldn't help but to notice the sudden increase in temperature which was confirmed by the ice rapidly melting.

Jake looked down and noticed his shoes were wet. "Ah shit…" He took one step towards land and, the ice he was on almost flipped from underneath him. Rather than play a game of hop-scotch, he chose fly over the ice to land. "Okay!" Jake raised one hand into the air and held the guitar in the other. "Now fire!"

Jake was knocked over by a wave of air before he could strike a chord. He quickly located the boom that followed as coming from the mountain. The red flame that covered the mountain was contrasted by the plume of dust that was spreading out over the jungle. He watched the rocket miss Simone completely and fly into the jungle were it exploded. He stood and, air rushed to replace what had been moved. "Okay… one more time." Then the grass started catching on fire. "Mommy…I don't like this game."

Jake immediately took off into the jungle. Sora and Kairi followed him as flames began engulfing the entire shore line. Kairi looked at the Stinger and said, "I don't get it. It was locked-on."

"To what? A tree!?" Jake said as the fire spread.

"Ha ha, very funny." Kairi fired back. "Hey, Sora, what happened? Why'd she freeze up like that?"

A shiver visibly went down his spine. "You wanna run? I wanna run! Let's run!" Sora sped up.

"What?"

"I don't feel comfortable near her!"

"I don't feel comfortable being on the same _World _as her! Don't see me pullin' crap like that." Jake said.

**Heart Gears**

Felix stood in a cloud of dust and ash that had fallen on mountain as a result of the explosion Duffie had caused. If Xia was still conscious he doubted she would stay in the smog. His eyes were as cloudy as theirs were but, he could feel them. Every stone, every breath, and every gust of wind, he felt it along every inch of his skin.

Xia was moving towards a lower area of mountain, where Felix had already determined the dust would fall least due to the winds. Duffie remained in the air watching the cloud for any signs of movement. Huginn was circling what was left of the mountain. Felix also felt a massive shift in winds originating from the lake.

Felix found a cliff and jumped down. After a few seconds in free fall he cleared the dust cloud and let himself fall further so the cloud wouldn't catch up. He created a twister beneath his feet to keep himself in the air before he covered his mouth to cough. Duffie swung to other side of the mountain. "Won't be long." He smiled before he spat toward the ground four hundred meters below him.

For the first time since the battle started, Felix examined his wounds. He knew full well that they weren't but, each cut, scrape, and bruise felt like real deal. He chuckled when he glanced at his still intact clothing. "Non-Newtonians for the win…"

After a minute, Felix produced two twisters from his hands and propelled himself around the mountain. He climbed until he'd breach a thin veil of dust and could see the flat area were Xia had gone to. She immediately leapt to her feet and dropped into a defensive stance with both palms open. Her ponytail had come undone and her face and hair were dirty. Blood flowed here and there from her head and arms. Duffie touched down at an angle from both of them making no effort to hide his presence. If he was injured his coat and pants hid it.

Dust began to float down and settle on them and the grass around them. Before his eyes could catch it, Felix felt Xia move in the dust. By the time the sonic boom reached him, he had caught Xia's boot in his hand. He let go and leaned back to avoid a heel to the head. Xia landed on her hands and flipped to her feet before moving to Felix's side for an open palmed blow to the chest. Felix dodged by pivoting with the intent to follow through with a backhanded fist. She ducked and swept his pivot foot from underneath him. Xia leapt up and balanced on her left leg with the right poised to drive its knee into Felix's gut. Felix's hands and feet glowed magenta as he put them between his back and the ground. He pivoted himself on his left hand and generated a gust of wind fast and powerful enough to force Xia to back down. He moved his body low to the ground and whipped up more dust and wind even spinning on his back occasionally to free all of his limbs. Felix continued his movements piling on gust after gust until he was surrounded by a rotating dome of dust that rapidly increased in size. Before she could react, Xia was swept off of feet and sucked into the dome. Dust from the explosion scratched her skin as she rose higher into the dome before she was shot out.

In the air, Xia flipped and twisted before landing so that she ended up her feet. When the dust dome dissipated, she charged forward with her right fist enveloped in a green energy that spiked off of her skin then went back down. Felix put both his left hand in front of him. Xia's fist met a wall of air that had Felix locked in place. The air distorted around them made visible by the dust. It condensed into a swirling ball in front of his hand while the air around his right fist moved in tight spiral. Xia immediately moved to edge of flat as Felix stepped into a punch that drove his fist through the dust ball. The result was a horizontally oriented funnel cloud the sucked in dust, dirt, and grass as it flew out over the jungle. Xia used the green energy to dig her hands into the soil and anchored herself in the ground.

When the tornado died the dust had dropped visibility to near zero. Xia could make out two things in the dust. The first was Felix diving to ground. The second was an orb of light flying at her. She moved in the dust carefully making sure not to fall off the cliff. The orb hit somewhere near edge and blew the dust away clearing the air significantly. Xia could see Duffie standing in between two humanoid robots, one with a sheathed katana in hand and the other carrying a square barreled cannon on its shoulder.

Felix charged at Duffie and his machines ready to pound through them. The one wielding the katana stepped forward with the blade parallel to the ground. It open and shut the blade of the weapon. The burst of light stunned Felix for an instant. In that instant, Duffie revealed the two and a half foot blade he had hidden in his left sleeve and stabbed at Felix's neck. Felix felt it coming and dodged to the side before he realized that Xia had slipped up next to him. Air was ejected from his lungs as Xia's knee dug into his gut. Felix fell to a knee and a hand with his free hand on his stomach. He rolled to the side to avoid being impaled by the katana. From that position, Felix leapt up tackled the robot wielding the energy cannon to the ground. He straddled the machine and drove his fist through its head before standing up and stomping it through its chest.

Meanwhile, Xia had just amputated the katana robot's sword swinging arm by taking advantage of the impalement attempt. The machine stood and attempted to retaliate but, she had vanished. Her hand ripped through its chest covered in the green energy. She yanked her hand out and prepared to move towards Felix. Between him and her, a white cylinder the size of battery was in the air. Xia produced a cloak of green energy that covered her entire body before the cylinder exploded.

Felix leapt into out of the flames and stopped in the air surveying the area around him. Duffie had thrown two boxes that unfolded into meter tall machine gun turrets and, Xia had smashed them by the time Felix realized this. Felix positioned himself over Duffie who was telekinetically building a machine gun around his arm with parts stored in his coat. He clapped his hands together, pressing the air out and drawing Duffie's attention. He opened his arms and positioned his hands as though he were gripping something with them. Duffie stopped building his gun and moved his hand around his neck. Tears were drawn and quickly boiled away from his eyes. Duffie threw a bomb Felix while trying run to air. A blur knocked the bomb away and Duffie to the ground. He didn't get back up.

Felix dropped to the ground as Duffie vanished. "Took me almost the whole month to get that down." He said facing Xia. The two of them smiled at each other and locked eyes as they planted their feet firmly on the dusty grass. Neither of them acknowledged or even noticed that the virtual world around them was changing into a sea of binary. Their bodies still moved trying reach other but, never got any closer.

Finally the roar of the crowd reached them. The wounds had vanished and most of their pain subsided. Duffie's coughing began to resound through the platform where the ones that passed the first round stood. Sora, Riku, Kairi, Jake, Shizuko, Isabel, and Simone were the other seven. A score chart was projected from the center tower showing the number eliminations each competitor had. Seifer Almasy: 0; Duffie Barret: 3; Simone Boneau: 0; Hayner Bryce: 0; Jagers Cobler: 0 Pence Desmond: 0; Fujin: 0; Olette Geralds: 0; Sora Hoshi: 0; Felix Hunter: 1.5; Shizuko Kuroha: 0; Jacob Marshall: 0; Riku Momoji: 0; Ienzo Olen: 0; Raijin: 0; Isabel Sanchez: 3; Xia Quin: .5; Kairi Umihana: 1.

Jake looked at Kairi with his eye twitching baffled as how she got a kill. The screen then cut a replay of the rocket she'd fired. Taking a first person view the crowd was shown the rocket flying before reaching a confused Jagers. The troll face was then hyper-imposed over a picture of Kairi's head.

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><p><em><strong>Round 1 is over! For those wondering I've already decided how it's going to end months ago. Tell me what you think.<strong>_

_**See Ya!**_


	12. Festival: Philosophy

_**Yeah...college...**_

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><p><strong>Lesson Twelve<strong>

**Festival: Philosophy**

After the match which lasted for about an hour Sora, Riku, Kairi, and their families all went to Kim's room. Mrs. Umihana invited Shizuko which lead to Jake tagging along as well. Kim's wall of alcohol behind the bar had become a wall of magic potions. Riku's sisters found out there was no way to become ponies. Leaving rainbows behind as they ran, however, was a different story.

"So, psycho robot kid isn't going to be making any appearances, right?" Daichi asked nervously.

"I doubt it." Riku said. "He'll probably hole himself up in his workshop again. God knows what other death machines he's got in there."

Kim and Mrs. Umihana had begun preparing dinner in the kitchen deeper within the dorm room. Mrs. Umihana watched in amazement as Kim diced an onion using water jets rather than a knife. "Think you could show me how to that?" Mrs. Umihana asked as she cut up some bell pepper.

" 'Fraid not. It's one those things you've gotta be born with." Kim responded. "Besides, I've still got scars from where I cut my hands." Kim raised her left hand and showed dozens white nicks that she'd accumulated.

The two continued their work in silence for a while listening to Riku's sisters laughter before Mrs. Umihana spoke again. "I'm sorry about what husband did earlier."

"Don't worry about…"

"No, listen to me. He had no right to press either of you." She continued. "It's just that… he can be a bit overbearing at times but, he just wants what's best for his daughter. I'm sure your parents felt the same when they were alive."

Kim sprayed some cooking oil onto a frying as she held down a lump in her throat, "As of last week both my parents are still alive." She admitted. "It just that the second they realize it's me on other end of the line they hang up. I haven't had a conversation with them in seven years. They firmly believe I'm demon sent by Satan."

"Your World doesn't have some of form child protection agency?"

Kim chuckled, "I'm from rural Ohio. CPS has more pressing issues then a ten-year-old who got drunk off a bottle of Fireball she stole to drown her sorrows." She paused. "Anyway, eventually one Zack Fair showed up to investigate some magically triggered gravitational distortions. I was twelve by then. I don't remember what happened that night but, when I came to, I was here in Twilight Town. He really didn't deserve what happened to him."

"Sorry for dredging up old memories…"

"Please stop apologizing." Kim said as began mixing ingredients in her skillet. "No matter what happened to me I've done enough bad things, drunk or sober, to deserve it all again. Look, me and Weston, we don't _act_ like we give shit about other people. Frankly, we're horrible influences. Hell, I gave Kairi a shot of vodka earlier this month because I thought it'd be funny. It was by the way.

"But, that doesn't mean we don't care. We just don't know how to show it. Just look at the way he's 'training' Felix. Just know this: Kairi and Riku and Sora, we'll keep 'em safe. I'll bet my life on that."

"Don't." Mrs. Umihana told her. "You and Weston deserve to be happy just as much any else. No one can tell you otherwise. And thank you."

**Heart Gears**

Vanitas yawned as he listened to Kim and Mrs. Umihana's conversation. He sitting on bench bored out of his mind regretting taking this mission in the first place. In his thought process the first thing that should be done to a threat is kill it. Torturing was a good option as well. If it were female, he'd probably throw in rape. That Tifa girl looked like a good lay.

The next question was how to go about achieving his goals. He didn't want to get caught but he did want to make a statement. Vanitas quickly decided the statement was more important and that getting caught would be avoided if possible. If not he'd just kill people at random until they let him go. There wasn't a need for complicated strategies. Fuck bitches, get paid was his philosophy on life. Killing was also in his repertoire. He really liked killing. The bottom line was fuck reconnaissance and Tifa.

**Heart Gears**

"They're fucked, aren't they?" Maria said to Maggie. The two of them had bought some cotton candy and taken a perch on top of the library. Aqua had released Nanami from Maria for the day, much to everyone's relief.

"Oh, yeah. Like you wouldn't believe." Maggie's voice was mixed with a chuckled. "They were fucked from the minute they entered with Simone."

"So tell me sis, why'd ya even bother? It's not like you to waste your time on somethin' when you know it won't end in your favor." Maria shoved a handful of cotton candy into her mouth.

"Curiosity." Maggie admitted. "I wanted to know if there was anything special about the Keyblade besides workin' on any lock. Is it a coincidence one of the four god slayers Wields one? How were those three so naturally adept at magic? I want to know what makes them so powerful. What makes them so different from the rest of us? Us, who are probably the strangest of humans in the whole world. Our World, this World, other Worlds, the Keyblade shows up in stories but, it's so rare. What happened to create those legends?"

"And…"

"Nothin'." She admitted. "It's been complete waste of time. Those three will lose and I'll have learned nothin'. Damn it. If Xehanort hadn't gone and disappeared he might be able to help me find the answers, help make sense of the data. Find a connection I missed, y'know. The only thing I want is knowledge."

Maria laughed and laid on her backed with legs crossed. "Yep, that's life for ya. Money, knowledge, and force. Those are three things that really control the world. You got money? Ya buy an education and soldiers. You got knowledge? Ya sell it and convince people to follow ya. You got force. Ya make someone teach you and take all the money ya need. Everything else falls into place really. Buy nice things. Use knowledge to gain fame and people to listen to ya. Shoot anyone who gets in your way."

"That's a bleak look on life. What about friends and family." For a moment Maria paused then looked at sister's face that was filled with sarcasm. "Had ya for second! Come on. We both know you're smarter than that. Then again, if people always acted as smart as they actually we'd have da Vincis runnin' around all over the place. There's a fine but distinct line between stupid and foolish."

"Unfortunately the ones whose lives tend to be most fun are ones who straddle that line." Maria's eyes glanced across the sky dotted by the lights of other Worlds. "Of course, they also tended to get shot back on Terminal Zero. Oh well. Not like it's our problem anymore."

"Was it ever our problem?"

"Not really."

**Heart Gears**

Tifa walked out of the bathroom stall and turned the left. There she saw a clone of the kid who kissed Simone during tournament. The clone had black, amber eyes, and a biker fetish. His smile was creepy to be sure but, no crazier than Simone. Certainly more foolish though. Or just plain stupid.

"Y'know, I thought this is would be harder. Instead all I had to do was follow you into the bathroom, lock the door, and wait." The clone said. Suddenly it made sense why the real guy was following Weston's lead. "So we can do this the hard way or the really hard way."

Tifa raised an eyebrow.

**Heart Gears**

After their meal, Kairi, Riku, and Sora decided to look around the school grounds some more with their families. Kim and Weston elected to stay behind and bake brownies. When Riku's sister asked to join them, they declined saying they were making "big kid brownies." Riku quickly realized they were making weed brownies.

Quite a few of the students had set up booths showcasing their various abilities gained through magic. Others were simple festival booths such as games and food. The night was as simple and normal as the circumstance would allow. Riku gauged he had at most another half hour before something exploded or otherwise went wrong.

"Dr. Jhevari?" Riku's father said with surprise in voice. The school's physician stood with Simone and Xia at her sides.

"In the flesh." She replied. "Do I know you?"

"It's me, Katashi Momoji. You used to be my doctor up until about twenty-five years ago." He said surprised.

"So you're from Destiny Islands. I take it you're Riku's father. Uncle maybe?" She said not remembering him at all.

"You saved my life after I fell down some stairs and broke my neck when I eight."

"Guess that means we owe her one." Daichi said almost chuckling.

"That's a regular event around here." Dr. Jhevari said.

"You used to give out fat free lollipops to little kids."

"Standard procedure."

As their spat continued Sora took the liberty to hide behind Suzume. "What are you doing?" Kairi asked.

"Hiding from _her_." Sora pointed to Simone who seemed entirely disassociated with her surroundings.

"Oh, hell no." Suzume said as she stepped out the line of literal fire. "You have the magic powers. You keep yourself from getting roasted. Unless you promise to give Felix my phone number the next time you see him."

"Why would I do that? Why would you _want_ me to do that?"

"Why wouldn't I? That is one _prime_ hunk of man. His arms, that badass scar on his left jaw, and he can protect me from anything: muggers, monsters, demons. Even Kairi agrees with me." Kairi turned her head hoping to hide the blush. "See. I saw you checking him out before the match started."

"_Kairi_!" Sora's voice cracked.

"You've seen his abs!" Kairi said as though it wasn't an argument.

"You've seen his abs!?"

"Yeah." Riku said as though taunting Sora. "He and Weston have this thing where they don't wear shirts too often. You saw actually them on a rare day."

"Whose side are you on?" Sora asked.

"Aw, is Sora jealous?" Riku added.

"Of course not. I…"

"I told you the day you left the island that _you_ had inspired me to become a doctor!" Mr. Momoji yelled over Sora in frustration.

"Totally honest," Dr. Jhevari began, "that's one those 'if I had a nickel' situations. You honestly don't expect me remember everyone in my life. Though I'll admit given how many visits you apparently paid, I probably have pretty thick file on you that I could have Aerith dig up. Now where is she I wonder?"

As Riku had figured an explosion occurred on campus near the dorms. A ragged scream could be heard growing closer to the group. The voice crashed through some and landed a few meters away from them. "What the fuck! She _punched_ me!" He shouted incredulously as he stood up. "She fucking punched me! Why the fuck was there fucking explosion when she fucking punched me!? What the fuck are you fucks lookin' at, fuck!" He shouted at Sora. "The fuck…?"

Everyone stopped and looked at Vanitas then Sora then back and forth for a couple seconds. Vanitas opened his mouth to speak but, Tifa's foot used it for a landing pad first. "Geez, what are you made of." She said as she picked him up and began punching him in the face with her free hand.

"Oh, Tifa, how are you, dear?"Dr. Jhevari asked as she Vanitas get what she guessed was a well deserved beating. "By the way, have you seen Aerith tonight? I have an errand for her."

"Mom, what does…" Riku's nine-year-old sister began before the eleven-year-old hushed her.

"Oh, it's been okay. And, Aerith was with Cloud last I checked." Tifa answered.

"Good, good. And who's your friend? Should I call security or, is he some student who's managed to avoid my office so far."

"Sora has a twin?" Suzume looked at her at aunt and uncle who were just as confused.

"Is _someone _gonna help me?" Vanitas pleaded as Tifa shoved his face into the ground.

"So, security."

"We have security around here?" Riku asked. As he did Vanitas opened a Corridor beneath and dropped in. Tifa jumped before she fell in and watched the Corridor close.

**Heart Gears**

"Hey, Weston." Kim slowly said as she laid her head to her boyfriend's lap. They were lying in her bed, shoes kicked off and generally comfortable. In the air in front of them, she juggled the remote, a magazine, a glass eyeball, and an empty cake dish. The TV in Kim's bedroom had _Adventure Time_ playing on it. "Can they really win?"

"Who cares?" Weston answered. "Our job was to make sure they could defend themselves and, we did that. S'long as they can keep themselves from getting killed in sudden Consumed attack, we did what we were supposed to."

Kim let the objects drop for when she started speaking again, "Yeah, but I feel bad. I mean, Riku was obviously gonna lose to Jaggers if weren't fer that fluke. And let's be honest, even if one of them gets past the next round there's no way they'd win an upfront fight. I feel like the one thing can bring to the table, I failed on, y'know?"

"Oh, come on." Weston moved and adjusted Kim so that they facing each other on the pillows. "You've got plenty to bring. Kairi sees it and so do I. Besides, how many people are there that can rip holes in the fabric of space and time?"

"And how many people can actually understand what that means?" Kim answered. "If weren't that brain of yours, I'd have no idea how to use some of my abilities."

"And if it weren't for you, my solution to all my problems would be punch it or bottle it up until it dies." Weston pulled her in closer so their noses touching. From this position Kim's toes were tickling Weston's shins. They wrapped their arms each other before kissing.

Kim smiled. "And mine would be crying until I fell asleep."With a wave of the hand, Weston turned off the TV and rolled himself on top Kim, kissing her again. They ran hands through hair and along each other's body kissing all the while. Weston began unbuttoning her shirt and kissing as Kim muttered, "Why are we are so fucked up?"

**Heart Gears**

Dr. Jhevari sat in her office looking through her files on Dr. and Mrs. Momoji as well the Hoshis. None of them were anything special as far biology was concerned. What had caught her attention was the fact that two Wielders had been born within the span of a few months among a relatively small population. Kairi was an outright anomaly and from a different World altogether.

She looked at the clock, saw it was one in the morning, and decided to continue her investigation later; she needed to request more files and data before coming to any conclusions, particularly on the conditions of the Destiny Islands at the time of Sora and Riku's births. Exiting the room she reminisced about a conversation she had with Master Xehanort on the first day she started working as the Academy's physician. He had asked the doctor why she took the job. She gave a two pronged reply. The first was that when dealing with injuries caused by magic, she was foremost expert. Where else would her skills best be put use? The second was curiosity. What did magic to the body over time? Could the slowed aging in herself and the over two hundred year old Yen Sid be replicated. Could the average human possess super strength and durability? As a physician, she had to help. As a scientist, she had to know. Why not do both.

Xehanort had approved of this answer.

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><p><em><strong>Review and all that good stuff.<strong>_


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